Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has the opportunity to fix his jaded defence ahead of the Premier League clash with Fulham, as Pau Torres prepares to re-enter the starting XI.
Aston Villa will be hoping to put the horrors of last week behind them, as Unai Emery prepares his side for battle with Fulham on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.
For the first time in a while, the Villans will be eager to get away from Villa Park, after losing three consecutive games at home, two of which came last week through crashing out of the FA Cup and then losing to Manchester United.
On top of the dip in form, the Midlands club were dealt more bad news with Boubacar Kamara suffering a season-ending ACL injury to force the manager to test the adaptability of his squad.
Luckily, there is some positive news for the boss with Pau Torres set to be in contention to start against Fulham this weekend after recovering from injury.
The Spaniard is yet to feature in 2024 for the Villans after suffering an ankle injury which has seen him away from the action for eight weeks.
Arriving from Villarreal in the summer, Emery was keen to get a deal for the centre-back over the line after coaching the player at the La Liga side.
The boss’ verdict on the towering centre-back has proved to be right so far, with his performances dubbed “magnificent” this season by Pat Nevin via the Football Daily Podcast.
The pairing of Diego Carlos and Clement Lenglet has worked in the absence of Torres to a degree, although the defensive standards have seemed to drop in recent weeks.
Villa have conceded eight goals in their previous three fixtures, just two goals less than what they conceded in all competitions throughout the entirety of December when Pau was in the side.
The return of the centre-back will welcome some additional stability and composure on the ball, with Lenglet likely to lose his place to resume the partnership of Pau and Carlos.
The pairing of the Brazilian and the Spaniard seemed to work prior to the 27-year-old’s injury, leaving the Barcelona loanee likely to fall down the pecking order once more in a switch that will undoubtedly strengthen the Villans’ back line.
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