Early Southampton team news v Aston Villa: Breakout star injured
All being well, Aston Villa will return to Premier League action on Friday evening when they welcome Southampton to the Midlands.
Gerrard’s players have come under scrutiny in recent weeks after a very slow start to the season while the Saints have surprised a few with a number of eye-catching performances both as a team and individually.
One of those breakthrough stars is 18-year-old Rome Lavia who was signed from Manchester City in the summer but he has now picked up a hamstring injury and will not face the Villans.
Tino Livramento has been out for months and will remain so for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side but Ibrahima Diallo and Mohamed Elyounoussi will be back from illness, as per Birmingham Live.
Hasenhuttl could call upon another former City youngster in Sam Edozie to be the man to make the difference after a sensational cameo off the bench away at Wolves last weekend.
Must win
It’s bold to suggest that there are already must-win games for Aston Villa this early into a season but it really is for Gerrard with much tougher games to come.
Villa have had a relatively easy start compared to other clubs around them with only Manchester City and Arsenal among the sides far better than them.
More tough assignments will be quickly coming for the Villans and with Southampton not setting the world alight early on in the season, there can be no excuses for defeat.
Even a draw doesn’t do much to help the situation with clubs behind Villa ready to pounce and drop them into the relegation zone.
There can be no panic buys in September either so Gerrard has to work with what he’s got and hope that it will be enough to keep them in the mix until January at the very least.
In other Aston Villa news, Matt Targett has explained every small detail that saw him complete a permanent move from Villa to Newcastle.