Injury Expert issues Aston Villa defender Alex Moreno update for Brighton and Everton games

We’re delighted to welcome injury expert Dr Rajpal Brar as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the injury situation at Aston Villa...

Aston Villa defender Alex Moreno is not expected to be in the side to take on Everton or Brighton this week, according to Dr Rajpal Brar.

Unai Emery recently revealed that Moreno will require more healing time after a hamstring surgery that's kept him out for all games this season. [Express and Star]

He returned to training earlier this month and even made the matchday squads for the games against Crystal Palace and Legia Warsaw.

Speaking about his injury and potential return, Dr Brar, a doctor in physical therapy and a sports scientist, told Villa News:

"My assumption would be he hasn’t hit the club’s fitness threshold to return and physically hasn’t responded to the level they require before returning to matches.

"He had a hamstring surgery and obviously they've not deemed him fit enough yet when he has returned to matchday squads.

"He's unlikely to feature in midweek and the weekend as well as Unai Emery has said it'll be a week or two at least."

The 30-year-old was the first-choice left-back for Emery last season as he offered a good balance between defence and attack.

This term, Lucas Digne has been the go to option there and thus far, has not let down the Spaniard.

He's proven to be an important overlapping option down the left flank for the Villans and has combined well with a number of players.

Even if Moreno returns, Emery might not want to fix what isn't broken and may stick with the Frenchman in his eleven.

In other Aston Villa news, a senior attacker is now a doubt for the upcoming games after he suffered a Grade 3 muscle tear.