TRAORE OUT: Bertrand Traore out of Aston Villa’s game against Tottenham
Following the international break, Aston Villa will host Tottenham Hotspur at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, 26 November.
Unai Emery confirmed ahead of the game that Bernd Traore has made a return from international duty with an injury. Traore scored in each of his last two games for Burkinabe, but has been ruled out for the foreseeable future.
While Traore will definitely miss the game, there are other players vying for a place in the starting line-up.
Bertrand has sustained a serious knee injury and is out of action for Sunday, manager Unai Emery said, according to the Aston Villa website.
John McGinn impressed for Scotland throughout the international break, but Aston Villa fans were concerned when they heard he had picked up an injury.
The Villa skipper trained on Friday and Arsenal boss Emery is confident McGinn will be in form for the huge clash against Spurs.
In addition to McGinn, Jacob Ramsey and Diego Carlos have returned to training, as has Álex Moreno, who was injured during Argentina’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
On the other hand, Emiliano Martinez has picked up an ankle injury but should be all right to face Spurs, while Nicolo Zaniolo, who led Italy to qualify for Euro 2024, is expected to be fit to face Spurs.
Aside from Bertrand, Arsenal boss Emery will have plenty of options to pick from, with Villa having won three of their last four games and currently sitting in fifth place in the Premier League, just three points behind Tottenham. Victory over Spurs this weekend would be a huge boost to Villa’s chances of making it into the top four.
