Potential boost for Villa vs Brighton, but key duo will not be feature

After a disappointing defeat to Newcastle Utd on Boxing Day, Villa will be looking to bounce back with a positive performance to start the new week, but it promises to be a tricky challenge given the quality that the visitors possess.
Ideally, we’d have a fully-fit squad available for Emery to select from, but it has now been confirmed that Jhon Duran will miss out, as he’ll serve the first of a three-match suspension after his red card at St James’ Park.

Villa were unsuccessful in their appeal to get that red card rescinded, and so that should now mean Ollie Watkins will get a consistent run of starts to try and get back to his best after dropping out of the side in recent outings.

Meanwhile, Matty Cash will play no part on Monday night either, as he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign last time out, and so he’ll now have to sit one game out before returning against Leicester City next weekend.

It’s expected that Diego Carlos will come back into the Villa XI with Ezri Konsa shifting across to right-back, but the likes of Kosta Nedeljkovic, Lamare Bogarde and Tyrone Mings will all be hoping to have some involvement instead.

There was positive news on the injury front though, as Emery suggested that Jacob Ramsey could be back in the squad and ready to return to action against Brighton, having now rejoined the rest of the squad for group training.

The 23-year-old has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since our defeat at Liverpool on November 9, and we could certainly use the fresh legs and quality that he can provide on the left side of our attack, while also affording the likes of Morgan Rogers more time to rest and the ability to share his responsibilities in the final third.

“At the beginning, he is close to be in the squad, to be available to play, maybe on Monday,” Emery told the media on Ramsey, as per VillaTV. “But we have [Friday] resting and Saturday and Sunday preparing the match for Monday.

“The last training session he did normally with the team, and hopefully he will be in the squad for Monday.”