Watkins, Cash & Mings: Latest Aston Villa injury news ahead of FA Cup clash with Spurs

Aston Villa made a lot of noise the January transfer window, but with all the last-minute wheeling and dealing done they now have to get back to the business of winning football matches – and a handful of potentially impactful injuries will only make things harder as Unai Emery prepares for a crucial phase of the season.

The Villans play Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday ahead of a run of games they will surely have to win if they want to qualify for the Champions League for the second year in a row – but a fresh fitness concern for striker Ollie Watkins, combined with a number of defensive injuries, could make everything rather trickier.

Villa’s new signings aren’t carrying any injury concerns but the likes of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio may need time to get up to full match fitness with few minutes under their belts in recent weeks – but they could well be pressed into service with problems elsewhere. We’ve got the latest updates on Watkins’ condition and all the rest of Aston Villa’s injured players, along with their expected return dates, below.ac

Ollie Watkins

Watkins, whose importance for Villa has only increased with the departure of Jhon Durán, was one of no fewer than four players substituted at half-time during the 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday, and Emery admitted that the England striker was withdrawn due to “pain in his muscle.”

Watkins was due to undergo a medical assessment on Monday, according to Emery, who added that it “hopefully” wouldn’t prove to be a significant injury. The results of that assessment have not yet been revealed, however, and as it stands Watkins must be regarded as a doubt for Sunday’s game pending a more detailed prognosis.

If Watkins is unavailable, then Rashford may be pressed into service as a starting striker from his debut, although it remains unclear whether he is fully match fit having not played for Manchester United since early December. Asensio also spent a considerable amount of time on the bench for PSG over the past month, which may point towards Morgan Rogers deputising after his devastating goal-scoring display against Celtic in the Champions League.

Matty Cash & Tyrone Mings

The Poland international wing-back had started four straight league games prior to the win over Wolves, but missed out at the Molineux thanks to an unspecified muscular injury that will keep him out for a while.

Emery told reporters last Friday that Cash would be out of action for “more or less three to four weeks”, although the exact nature of the problem remains a mystery. Combined with the deadline day departure of Kosta Nedeljkovic and injuries elsewhere on the defensive line, right-back has now become a potential problem position.

There were more than a few hearts in mouths when Mings, who has only recently returned from a year-long lay-off caused by an ACL injury, went down against West Ham recently. Mings appeared to be on the edge of tears as he was taken off the field, but Emery has told the media that the fresh injury worry isn’t as serious as first feared.

Although the new knee injury Mings has sustained did keep him out of the Wolves match, it is only “a small injury” according to the manager, and while he will “need some more days to be ready to play” he shouldn’t miss much game time. No exact timeline has been revealed, but it is broadly expected that the Spurs game will come slightly too soon for him.

Ross Barkley & Pau Torres

The summer signing has had plenty of injury issues in the past but was able to stay fit for most of the season until a calf injury sidelined him in mid-January. The former Everton and Luton Town man has now missed four matches as a consequence and “still has work to do”. Emery suggested that he would be training alone this week, implying that he is unlikely to be fit for the game against Spurs, but he should be back in full training ahead of the Villa’s next Premier League match at home to Ipswich Town.

The Spanish centre-half has been out since the beginning of January with a serious ankle injury, and is unlikely to return to action until the beginning of March at the very earliest. His absence was the main driver behind Villa’s last-gasp deadline day deal for Axel Disasi, and the Chelsea loanee may well be pressed into immediate action in the FA Cup with both Torres and Mings expected to miss out.