The absence shouldn’t be too much of an issue for Leeds United’s weekend Premier League hosts.
Aston Villa will be without back-up goalkeeper Marco Bizot for this weekend’s game against Leeds United following his FA Cup red card.
Bizot was sent off in first-half added-time on Saturday as Aston Villa lost 3-1 at home to Newcastle in the FA Cup fourth round. The goalkeeper brought down Jacob Murphy close to the halfway line during a Magpies counter-attack, a foul which referee Chris Kavanagh deemed to be the denial of a goalscoring opportunity and worthy of a straight red card.
FA disciplinary rules state Bizot must now serve a one-match ban and with red card suspensions transferring between domestic competitions, he will not be available when Leeds head to Villa Park on Saturday. It was unlikely the 34-year-old started anyway, with first-choice Emi Martinez set to return for the Premier League.
“Marco is always playing so, so focused and performing fantastic,” Emery said when asked about his goalkeeper’s dismissal. “The red card is a difficult circumstance for him. I can’t complain to him. It’s something to get as an experience to learn. We will try to improve in everything we are building, even with a bad result today.”
Bizot’s suspension will likely prove inconsequential for Villa but they can count themselves lucky not to have lost a first-team regular over the weekend. Left-back Lucas Digne somehow escaped a straight red card after a shin-high tackle on Murphy, with no VAR in use across the FA Cup fourth round despite it being available at Villa Park.
Alan Shearer labelled Digne’s tackle ‘terrible’ on The Rest Is Football and had VAR been in use, the French defender would surely have been sent off. A red card would have seen him join Bizot on the sidelines for the weekend, but he can in fact play.
Digne also committed a handball offence well inside his own box but to cap off a woeful afternoon, referee Kavanagh and his assistant Nick Greenhalgh somehow deemed it to have been outside, Again, VAR was not in use and could not clear up the obvious error.
Leeds United & Aston Villa team news ahead of weekend meeting
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Midfield trio Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn will all miss out on Saturday, having picked up injuries in quick succession last month. Cash’s right-back cover Andres Garcia has been out recently with a hamstring issue.
Leeds have a fresh injury concern of their own, with Noah Okafor limping off holding his hamstring during Sunday’s FA Cup penalty-shootout victory at Birmingham City. Fellow winger Daniel James also missed out due to a back problem.
Anton Stach (hip) and Pascal Struijk (hip flexor) also missed the FA Cup trip to St Andrew’s, with Daniel Farke set to provide an update on the pair later this week. Dominic Calvert-Lewin returned from illness over the weekend.
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