Unai Emery delivers Tyrone Mings injury update ahead of Celtic Champions League clash
Unai Emery has confirmed Tyone Mings did not suffer a "big injury" at the weekend and the centre-back could feature against Celtic on Wednesday night depending on how he feels after training at Bodymoor Heath this afternoon.
The 31-year-old came off in the first half of Aston Villa's match against West Ham with a knee injury. After initially trying to continue following a few minutes of treatment from the medical staff, Mings pulled up again and was forced off.
Replaced by Ian Maatsen, Lucas Digne then shuffled across to left centre-back for the remainder of the game. Villa were in the lead by the time Mings came off, but West Ham’s Emerson equalised in the 70th minute.
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Asked for an update on Mings ahead of the Celtic match, Unai Emery said: "We will see this afternoon and then we are going to decide how every player is feeling. We have Lamare Bogarde in the squad as well, he is training every day and competing very well. Sil [Swinkels] is another option because he is training with us, but we are thinking of letting him leave on loan. I think he will need more experience to get minutes.
"We have enough players to compete and feel confidence. For example, Lucas Digne is left-footed and is an experienced player. He can feel confident [playing at centre-back]. Firstly, if Tyrone Mings is available then he could play, but if not, Bogarde - who has usually played in midfield - he is training sometimes as a 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. We have a circumstance where Diego Carlos wanted to leave and he pushed us to let him leave. I believe in the players we have in the squad."
Emery added: "It is not a big injury, but every day is going to be important to see if he feels better or worse. When we play lots of matches, this is the difficulty we have. We will see this afternoon."
John McGinn returned to fitness in time to make the squad to face West Ham and came off the bench a few minutes after the Hammers drew level. He is in contention to start against Celtic on Wednesday night.
Villa will have to beat Celtic to give themselves the best chance of qualifying for the top eight of the league phase table. They'll automatically qualify for the Champions League round of 16 if they beat the Scottish champions and one of Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, AC Milan or Bayer Leverkusen fail to win their final league phase games.
Emery's side could also finish above Leverkusen if they better the German side's winning margin against Sparta Praha by two or more goals. Fourth-placed Inter could also be caught by Villa if they lose to Monaco. But it would be the Ligue 1 side replacing Inter in the top eight if they were to win by two more goals than Villa.
