Unai Emery makes Aston Villa squad claim ahead of Celtic showdown
Unai Emery has backed Villa’s squad to cope with their defensive crisis as he mulls his options ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League showdown with Celtic.
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An injury to Tyrone Mings has left Emery with just one fit senior centre-back heading into arguably the most important fixture of the season to date.
Victory over the Scottish giants would likely secure a top-eight league phase finish and send them straight into the last-16, avoiding next month’s play-off round and a run of what would be six matches in 17 days.
Left-back Lucas Digne is favourite to deputise in place of Mings but Emery says he will feel confident, whoever plays at the back.
He said: "We have enough players to compete and feel confident. For example, Lucas Digne is left-footed and is an experienced player. He can feel confident (playing at centre-back).
“I am confident and I believe in the squad we have. We now have injured players, but this is something every team has.”
Villa have been boosted by the fact the knee injury Mings sustained in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham is not serious.
But while the Villa boss refused to even rule the centre-back out of Wednesday’s match during the pre-match press conference, he is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks.
Villa, who also have Pau Torres absent with a broken foot, have been criticised by some supporters for allowing Diego Carlos to leave for Fenerbahce last week without first signing a replacement.
Emery reiterated the fact Carlos had pushed to leave explaining: “We wanted to replace him at the same time but couldn’t. We have to accept it. I believe in the squad we have.”
Villa need to win and have just one of five other results go in their favour to finish in the top-eight but Emery insisted he would not be overly concerned about the fixture congestion, should they land in the play-off round.
“Sometimes to play matches is better because you can get minutes, you can get more information,” he said.
“Of course, it could be good as well if we are in the top eight to rest in those two weeks, trying to recover players and in the training sessions.
“When we are playing a lot of matches in a row in different competitions we have less time to work in the training session.
“I want to get into the top eight because it’s a good opportunity we have but not thinking only to reduce two matches. It is also because we want to be in the next round.”