Unai Emery sweating on the fitness of Aston Villa duo
Unai Emery confirmed Aston Villa will have to assess injuries to Emi Martínez and Youri Tielemans after a 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
Tielemans was replaced by Moussa Diaby midway through the first-half on Saturday night, while Robin Olsen came on for hamstring injury-struck Martínez at half-time.
Fourth-placed Villa moved seven points clear of Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League standings as Chelsea substitute Axel Disasi saw his stoppage-time goal that would’ve won it for the away side ruled out by VAR.
Villa boss Emery will await to hear the extent of Martínez and Tielemans’ injury.
“We will need to see,” said Emery. “Even with the injury of Tielemans we will have to wait.
“Hopefully it’s not a lot.
“A lot of our players have been injured for a long time. Buendia, Kamara, and even Jacob Ramsey.
“Every situation that we have in the season, we are reacting. We are giving chances to another player to help us. It is a moment for our other players.
“We signed Morgan and it was fantastic how he scored and how he is progressing.
“Now we have centre-back’s ready to play like Lenglet and Diego Carlos, but we have other players.
“Always when being successful, you will have some problems like now.”
Despite seeing his side give away a two-goal lead, Emery was pleased Villa could officially secure Europa League football for next season.
Emery said: “With 67 points, we achieved Europa League for next year and we are still in contention with Tottenham to fight for the Champions League. I am happy, very happy.
“We are very happy. Even with this point we have achieved today.
“Chelsea who were a contender to be in the top five and top four. To have the difference that we have in the table is very difficult, and they showed their power.
“They showed playing against us how they can compete.
“We played the first-half really defensively. With the second-half they came back at us, of course we were disappointed because with the advantage. But, at the end we have to be happy.”
