The trip to west London is shaping up to be a serious test of Villa’s squad depth, with four of the players who started both of this month’s stunning wins over Manchester City and Arsenal potentially absent.

Midfielder Douglas Luiz and left-back Lucas Digne, who have started every league match to this point, are definitely unavailable after picking up their fifth bookings of the season against the Gunners last Saturday.

Villa also have concerns over Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans, both of whom were forced off early in the same fixture and then did not travel to Bosnia for Thursday night’s Europa Conference League tie at Zrinjski Mostar.

But Emery, who will make a final decision on his starting XI after training on Saturday, was keen to point out Villa are not the only team whose resources are being tested.

Brentford also have their worries, with striker Bryan Mbuemo ruled out for three months after undergoing ankle surgery, while influential midfielder Mathias Jensen will again be missing.