Aston Villa XI vs Everton: Mings, Tielemans updates with Emery set to make changes
Aston Villa are looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 5-1 defeat at Newcastle United when they welcome Everton to Villa Park on Sunday.
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery will have to make at least one change to his starting line-up as the Villans look to respond to last weekend’s heavy defeat at Newcastle United when they take on Everton at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, journalist Dean Jones has told GIVEMESPORT.
Moussa Diaby’s debut strike was not enough to earn Villa a spoil of the shares at St. James’ Park on Saturday.
Goals from Sandro Tonali, Callum Wilson, Harvey Barnes and an Alexander Isak brace subjected the West Midlands giants to an opening-day 5-1 shellacking.
The Villans were rocked by a serious injury to centre-back Tyrone Mings, whilst Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash missed gilt-edged opportunities to hit the back of the net on either side of the break.
Emery will hope to see his side respond when they welcome Everton to Villa Park, who suffered a defeat of their own last weekend, losing 1-0 at home to Fulham.
With the scores level at 1-1 last weekend, an innocuous coming together between Mings and Isak resulted in a horrifying injury for the Villa man, who was treated on the pitch for close to ten minutes.
On Monday, Aston Villa released an official statement, confirming Mings would require surgery after undergoing scans which revealed a severe knee injury, with a lengthy rehabilitation process on the cards.
It is a major disappointment for the 30-year-old, who could miss the rest of the season as the Villans look forward to a return to Europe ahead of next week’s Europa Conference League third-round qualifier.
And Jones told GIVEMESPORT that Mings’ injury is a “massive blow to Villa”, who have to regain their focus after being opened up at will by Newcastle last weekend.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “The Mings injury is a massive blow to Villa, and it’s all about now rebuilding the foundations of the team because the loss of so many goals on the opening day was totally out of whack with what most of us were expecting.”