Aston Villa: Crushing new Boubacar Kamara injury blow emerges at Villa Park
Aston Villa may well have been dealt a crushing new blow on their Champions League hopes with Boubacar Kamara potentially facing a spell on the sidelines following his knee injury against Manchester United.
Scott McTominay’s 86th-minute header gave Erik Ten Hag’s men a priceless victory at Aston Villa as both teams fight for Champions League qualification in the Premier League.
United appeared to be clinging on for a point as Villa created a succession of chances after Douglas Luiz cancelled out Rasmus Hojlund’s first-half strike.
But McTominay settled a thrilling contest when he got in front of Matty Cash and rose to meet Diogo Dalot’s right-wing cross.
Aston Villa plunged into further crisis with Boubacar Kamara update
The defeat to Manchester United means the Villans are without a win at home in their three games since the turn of the year as the Red Devils cut the gap between the two teams to just five points.
However, the Villans may well be plunged into further crisis after Kamara came off with what looked like a worrying knee injury in the second half of their 2-1 defeat.
The Frenchman was seen wincing feeling his knee once he came off which will certainly have not been a welcome sight for Unai Emery or any Aston Villa fan for that matter as they look to secure Champions League qualification for the first time.
And a new update has emerged at Villa Park that does not look particularly pleasing. Injury Expert Ben Dinnery shared on his Premier Injuries X account (12 February) that there is currently “No return date” set for Kamara which suggests he may be out for weeks, joining the likes of Ezri Konsa and Jhon Duran on the treatment table.
Chatter has already begun online (Total Villa X account, 13 February) that Kamara may well have suffered a potential ACL injury, especially with the way he looked once he came off.
The Frenchman has been arguably one of Emery’s best four players at Villa Park this season with some dominant and exceptional displays at the heart of the midfield for Aston Villa alongside Luiz.
As per SofaScore, the former Marseille man has averaged 1.1 interceptions per game, 2.3 tackles, 4.9 balls recovered per game, won 52% of his ground duels and completed 90% of his passes per game this season.
Kamara’s influence on the team is made all the more evident in the fact that his presence so far this season has won Aston Villa 2.31 points per game which is the 10th most in the division [FBRef].
The Frenchman will surely be attracting plenty of interest in the summer window but clubs will be faced with a price tag of £100m if they want to take him off Emery’s hands.
Against Manchester United, Kamara was at the heart of everything good about Emery’s team. As per SofaScore, Kamara completed 100 per cent of his dribbles, driving through the heart of the United midfield at will.
He also won 80 per cent of his ground duels, only lost possession three times, accurately completing a whopping 94 per cent of his passes.
Kamara’s absence was critical to the defeat on Sunday (12 February) and Emery will be hoping and praying their potential £100million man isn’t out for a spell as his performances have proven the standard for Villa’s stunning progress all year.
In other Aston Villa news, Alan Hutton has offered his verdict on Bailey’s new contract at Villa Park
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