Unai Emery. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)placeholder image
Unai Emery. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Aston Villa earned a 1-0 victory over Man City but saw Emi Buendia limp off in the first half.
Unai Emery’s side travel to Anfield on Saturday where they will be aiming to inflict a fifth successive Premier League defeat on the reigning champions. Liverpool suffered a 3-2 loss at Brentford last weekend, with Arne Slot’s side falling seven points behind Arsenal in the title race.
After a poor start to the season, Villa have found rhythm in recent weeks and earned a 1-0 triumph over Manchester City last time out. The win moved the Birmingham-based side level on 15 points with Liverpool.
However, a disappointing blow for Emery’s troops was that Emi Buendia limped out in the first half after assisting Matty Cash’s goal. The attacking midfielder has rejuvenated his career at Villa Park after being sent on loan to Bayer Leverkusen during the second half of last term.
Buendia has recorded three goals and two assists in all competitions for Villa this season. But against City, he was forced off with a foot injury. And according to the social media account @physioscout that provides football injury analysis, it is unlikely that Buendia will make a swift recovery. A post on X said: “Not much via the video, but palpated area brings concern for a midfoot ligament injury (Lisfranc) or a fracture. He'll be lucky to avoid several weeks away from football. Foot area usually tends to be difficult to predict recovery times.
“Potential Recovery Times: If foot fracture: 6-12 weeks. If Lisfranc: 3-5 months. Some minor Lisfranc injuries do tend to see a return within 2-4 weeks, too. Also potential for a stress reaction type injury. Scans in situations like these are essential to determine the extent of the injury. Hoping for the best possible outcome here.”
Sancho unhappy
Buendia was replaced by Jadon Sancho in the 29th minute against City. However, the on-loan Manchester United winger was substituted in the 74th minute. Villa boss Emery admitted that Sancho was not happy by the decision. "Yes, sure he's (Sancho) not happy but I did it before with Morgan Rogers, with Emiliano Buendia, with Leon Bailey, and he played 60 minutes on Thursday," Emery said.
"Today when he (Buendia) was injured, my plan was maybe in case he (Sancho) was going to play 30 minutes, but I decided to play more and he played 45 minutes. But my plan was when he was swapped with Emiliano Buendia, the idea was maybe not playing all the minutes until the last moment. And I told him as well, he can feel it, it's embarrassing.”
Elliott struggles
Harvey Elliott will not be returning to Anfield after leaving Liverpool for Villa on summer transfer deadline day. The Reds favourite is on a season-long loan in the West Midlands so is ineligible to feature. However, Elliott was omitted from Emery’s squad against City despite being fit.
"I am happy with him, he's training well. His commitment is fantastic, he's a good guy,” Emery said on Elliott. "It was a tactical decision. I spoke with him about it and my advice was to keep going.
"He's a very good player, only our demands are at a high level and some players and how they are performing last year and this year, are playing in the same position. We signed him because I believe in him. He will need time."
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