The latest Aston Villa team news as an important player is confirmed injured.
Aston Villa could be without Boubacar Kamara for their next two Premier League matches after the defensive midfielder suffered a hamstring injury away at Brentford.
The Villans were disappointed enough to suffer a 1-0 defeat but the result wasn’t the only loss during their venture to the Gtech Community Stadium. Kamara, who recently signed a new long-term contract to reflect his supreme importance to Unai Emery’s side, hobbled off with an injury concern just 16 minutes into Saturday’s contest.
Kamara looked uncomfortable as he left the field, holding his thigh. Emery confirmed during his post-match press conference that the substitution was the best course of action. “Yes, I don’t know exactly what injury he has, but he got injured,” Emery admitted.
Boubacar Kamara injury update emerges
As is always the protocol when players suffer injuries, further tests and scans are conducted in the following hours and days. In Kamara’s case, it was promptly discovered that the injury was indeed to his hamstring as expected, though thankfully it’s nothing serious.
The Athletic reports Kamara is ‘set to miss two to three weeks with a minor hamstring injury’, meaning he will definitely be sidelined for this Sunday’s clash with Crystal Palace in the Premier League. The international break then comes at a good time as the Frenchman can aim to recover in time for the visit to Everton on September 13.
Based on the two-to-three-week timeline set out, it will be touch-and-go whether Kamara will be able to feature at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. It could be a case of the 25-year-old coming off the bench to be gradually reintegrated into the team, or he could be deemed fit to start, or even not to play at all. Villa’s medical staff will decide closer to the time.
How Villa can line up without Kamara
One thing that is for sure, Kamara won’t play this weekend. Emery will have to decide how his side lines up without the France international as a result, and there are a few ways in which he could do that. The most natural replacement for Kamara is probably Amadou Onana as the Belgian, albeit not as strong defensively, has similar physical prowess.
Another option could be to drop John McGinn into a double pivot alongside Youri Tielemans. McGinn and Tielemans were filded on the right wing and in attacking midfield respectively for the opening two fixtures against Newcastle United and Brentford but it didn’t work out too well, with both players performing below their usual standard.
McGinn and Tielemans moving into the deeper and central role could benefit both. They played well there together last season when Kamara was out injured for a lengthy period, after all. Emery may prefer to play either one of those two alongside Onana instead, though, with the other in the number 10 role or out wide. Morgan Rogers would then take the other spot.
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