Injury Update

Alex Mcleish today revealed the extent of the injuries picked up by midfield duo Jermaine Jenas and Stephen Ireland. Jenas picked up his injury in training whilst Ireland suffered an ankle injury in the victory over Wigan at the weekend.

Mcleish said:

“Stevie turned his ankle, he was clearly struggling at the start of the second half but still contributed with a great through-ball,” he said.

“We felt it was right to take him off and he didn’t argue about that at all.

“He wants to keep that run of games going, and the more confidence he gets the better player he will be for Aston Villa.”

With regard to Jenas he said:


“He is going to be out for four weeks,”

“He’s hurt his Achilles and it’s a devastating blow first and foremost for Jenas. We’ll support him to get back to fitness.

“I could be doing with that extra competition in central midfield.”

Injury Latest

Good news for us coming out today that we could have as many as 5 players back from injury for the Wigan game on Saturday.  Darren Bent, Emile Heskey, Jermaine Jenas, Ciaran Clark and Carlos Cuellar are all back in training and hopeful of making the squad this weekend.

• Bent has apparently overcome his groin injury that kept him out of the QPR game but he thought he had shaken it off one time already so it will be interesting to see if there is any reaction on Saturday.
• Heskey is also back after his hamstring strain, though I'm hoping this doesn't mean he will be taking back his place in the team at the expense of someone more worthy.
• Jenas should finally make his debut at last! I've been really looking forward to seeing him in our midfield to see if he can add that spark that we have been lacking.
• Clark has recovered from a knee injury but this just means that our bench will look a bit stronger as there is no chance he will get a start.
• Finally Cuellar is making a return!!! I rate him highly but sadly I see no way of him breaking the current partnership at the back.  I agree with the saying "If it's not broke, don't fix it" and I think this statement should apply here.

This is what Mcleish had to say:

"Darren trained today which is good news. The injury wasn't as bad as first feared so it will be good to get him back in action and unleash him again.
"Emile will train later this week with the group. He has already started preliminary training but he will be with us when we are preparing for the weekend game so he will be available.
"The good news on Jermaine is that he started training yesterday and he had a good session.
"He had another good session today and looked very lively and he is ready to go as well.
"James played through the pain barrier and was hobbling about a wee bit at the end of the QPR game but he is one of these that will run through brick walls.
"We feared the worst afterwards but the scan was good and there was nothing broken.
"He has suffered severe bruising and his ankle is a little bit swollen but we think he might make it at the weekend.
"Ciaran Clark is another one who will join us later and will be available for the weekend."