Morgan Rogers and Tyrone Mings remain doubts ahead of Aston Villa’s trip to Crystal Palace on Tuesday night, with late assessments being made on the pair.
Both were taken off in the second half of Villa’s win over Chelsea on Saturday evening, to give Unai Emery some troubling news on an otherwise great night for the club.
Having fallen behind early, loan signings combined as Marcus Rashford provided the assist for both Marco Asensio goals in a 2-1 win.
However, the fitness of Rogers and Mings is a concern as Villa look to continue their push to return to Champions League action next season.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Emery said: ‘His (Mings) wishes that he’s always showing us is to play, even when he was telling me on Saturday that he was not good.
‘When I subbed him, he was telling me he could continue playing. He’s a very important player for us.
‘The idea is to have subs performing well as well when we are not having every player available to play.
‘One of those is Morgan Rogers, but in case he is not available for tomorrow of course we are going to use another player and believe in our squad to help in the moment we will need them.’
The Villa boss added: ‘We are going to train this afternoon and after we are going to travel to Palace. We will see. I don’t know exactly.
‘We played on Saturday and did a bit effort physically and mentally. We have to recover physically and our energy is going to be very important tomorrow.’
Rogers had asked to be taken off against Chelsea after a challenge from Christopher Nkunku, confirmed by Emery after the win.
‘He is playing a lot of minutes because physically he can do it. But today, he had a kick and was asking me to replace him,’ he said after the victory. ‘Hopefully, it’s not for a long time. Hopefully, he can play on Tuesday at Palace.’
Emery does have Axel Disasi available again after he was ineligible to play against parent club Chelsea, while Ezri Konsa is fit and Pau Torres is closing in on a return.
‘Konsa after his comeback on Saturday felt good,’ said Emery.
‘Pau is close to adding to us, maybe this week maybe next week. When we are again recovering some players, we can feel strong again like we have to try to build because we’re conceding a lot of goals.’
Villa have a busy schedule ahead with FA Cup action this weekend against Cardiff City followed by a trip to Club Brugge in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 next week.
‘Tomorrow is a very good test, how we are improving, how we are getting better,’ said the manager.
‘We are being demanding because it’s not enough, the way we are doing. But of course, we are excited, we are motivated, because we have in front a lot of challenges.’
