‘They will be close’ - Unai Emery hands Aston Villa double injury boost ahead of Man Utd clash

Unai Emery has revealed Boubacar Kamara and Ludwig Augustinsson could be in line to return to the Aston Villa squad ahead of Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Manchester United.

Kamara, a player previously linked with a switch to Old Trafford, hasn’t featured for the Villans since mid-September due to knee injury, while Augustinsson has played just 45 minutes all season for the claret and blues following his summer arrival from Sevilla.

However, both players were filmed in training this week and Unai Emery has revealed they could be back in contention for the visit of United.

“Our big injury is Diego Carlos,” he told BirminghamLive. “I think it is a very good recruitment the club made but he’s injured. My players have been doing training sessions this week.

“Ludwig Augustinsson and Boubacar Kamara, I think they will be close to playing but I don’t know exactly the first XI to start the match.”

Erik ten Hag will approach the fixture with a level of uncertainty given he has way of knowing how Villa will set up under their new boss, who only took his first training session with the team on Wednesday. Aaron Danks managed two games after Steven Gerrard’s sacking last month and opted to drop John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey, two stalwarts under the former Liverpool captain.

Danks also decided to start with Leandro Dendoncker, someone who struggled for minutes under Gerrard, and played with a front four of Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings.