Bertrand Traore fit for Aston Villa v Norwich, Kortney Hause and Morgan Sanson out
Aston Villa will welcome Bertrand Traore back from injury for their Premier League clash with Norwich, but Kortney Hause and Morgan Sanson are out.
Traore has started just one league game this season, the 2-1 defeat to Brentford back in January, and has been restricted to just seven appearances all season.
But after not playing a single minute since March, the Burkina Faso international is available again and will be involved in the squad on Saturday afternoon.
Steven Gerrard did share that defender Hause and midfielder Sanson won’t be available however after failing to recover from their own respective injuries.
“Morgan Sanson and Kortney will be missing, we welcome Bertrand Traore back, who missed the last fixture,” he said, as quoted by Birmingham Mail.
Neither have been regulars under Gerrard this season so won’t be seen as major misses as Villa look to earn their first win since mid-March after five games without a win.
Boost
The return of Traore is a boost for Gerrard and Villa, who have seen their attackers struggle with their output for much of this seaso.
The team’s top goalscorer in the Premier League this season is Ollie Watkins with just eight goals, and the team have scored just twice in their last five games.
Traore plays as a traditional winger on the right cutting in on his left foot and that could provide more balance to the side, with Coutinho on the left and Watkins through the middle which gives Jacob Ramsey more space to push through the middle.
So far during his time at the club he has been relatively disappointing with his output, but Gerrard now has a chance to work with him closely to try and mould him.
It could be last chance saloon ahead of the summer transfer window too, but right now it’s all about getting more points on the board after a poor run of results.
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