Villa head to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa, gestures during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City at Villa Park on October 24, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery(Image: Neville Williams, Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Aston Villa and Manchester United have both issued team news updates ahead of their Premier League clash at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Villa boss Unai Emery will make a late fitness check on Aaron Wan-Bissaka , with the right-back having missed the last five matches in all competitions with a hamstring injury.
Matty Cash will be unavailable for Villa after picking up his fifth yellow card of the league season against Fulham, meaning he will serve a one-match suspension.
"Aaron is close, but tomorrow (Saturday) we will see if he can train normally and feel good," Emery said at his pre-match press conference on Friday. "(Matteo) Ruggeri is still working alone but he is progressing well. I think the other players are available."
Ruggeri remains sidelined with a hamstring injury and is expected to return after the international break.
Amadou Onana is still recovering from the ACL injury he suffered while playing for Belgium at the World Cup in the summer.
Lisandro Martinez is unavailable due to suspension for United.
Carlos Baleba is also sidelined with a hamstring injury in a major setback, boss Michael Carrick confirmed at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
"Carlos, we don't know (when he will be back), but it will be a number of weeks. It's definitely not this week, and it won't be any time over the international break. It'll be a little bit longer than that," said Carrick.
Patrick Dorgu (thigh) is also a doubt for the Red Devils. "Patrick's done a little bit of training this week. As you've seen, he trained with us at the start of the week, very, very small. So we've got to be patient with Pat,” said Carrick.
"He's had a good period of time now with a couple of hamstrings that we need to manage that and be patient with that over the next few weeks as well. But he's slowly getting back with us, so we'll have to see whether he can be involved at the weekend or not."
There are also question marks over Marcus Rashford ’s fitness amid a hip problem, while Luke Shaw , Benjamin Sesko (shin) and Manuel Ugarte (knee) are all out.
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