Alan Hutton challenges Aston Villa fringe players to make hay of injury news
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Boubacar Kamara’s untimely injury has given Aston Villa something of a selection headache but Alan Hutton wants others to take the reins.
The Frenchman is now likely to miss the World Cup in Qatar for his national side and could even be out of action until the new year after sustaining the knee injury against Southampton two weeks ago.
The 22-year-old signed for the Villans in the summer after choosing to leave Marseille in his homeland on a free transfer to make the move to the Midlands and try himself out in the Premier League.
He had started the majority of games for Aston Villa prior to the international break but Douglas Luiz had to come in for the trip to Leeds United on Sunday.
Hutton, a former Villan himself, now wants to see some of the midfield fringe players make a name for themselves to Steven Gerrard and assert themselves as the new first-choice holding midfield player.
“You’ve got Dendoncker as well who they have just brought in to play midfield,” Hudson exclusively told Villa News. “You’ve also got Luiz and Nakamba as well – who will be short of game time – he could come back into the fold.
“We’ll have to wait and see but it’s not ideal, Kamara getting injured. He’s obviously a very big player for Villa but there is an opportunity now for somebody to come back in and show the manager that they’re good enough to take that spot.”
Villa were held to a 0-0 draw by Leeds despite Luis Sinisterra being sent off early in the second half as a very truncated game saw the first away point of the season.
In other Aston Villa news, there was plenty to be learned from the goalless stalemate at Elland Road which leaves a lot to ponder for Gerrard.