19 hours ago
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Unai Emery has confirmed Emiliano Buendia will not be available for Aston Villa's trip to Liverpool on Saturday.
The West Midlands side travel north on an impressive run of four straight Premier League wins, and six victories from seven in all competitions. That is the exact reverse of Liverpool's fortunes, with the midweek defeat against Crystal Palace consigning the Reds to their worst domestic run since 1953.
As for Villa, its recent upsurge in form has changed the narrative following a disappointing start to the campaign. Buendia has been at the heart of that and has provided four goal involvements from its last four league matches. Yet he won't be involved at Anfield due to the foot injury he sustained in last week's win over Manchester City.
“He is not available for tomorrow, but the injury he has is going well,” said Emery in Friday's press conference.
“I think with a few days more, he can be fit and available for the next matches, hopefully.
Asked for a further update on team news, Emery confirmed he is still without the two players who were forced to miss last week's game against City.
"Still the same players out. Youri Tielemans, he is progressing well. He is going to start training hopefully next week with the group.
“The other one is Andres [Garcia]. Andres is progressively getting better, but still some weeks to come back.”
Harvey Elliott is also unavailable to face his parent club.
As for Liverpool, it looks set to be without Alexander Isak and Curtis Jones, who Arne Slot confirmed are "99.9 percent likely to miss out against Villa.
But there is better news with the expected return of Ryan Gravenberch following his three-game injury absence.
"Ryan trained with us for the first time yesterday, will train with us today and then we will make the call if he can start."
Liverpool and Villa are both tied on 15 points after their contrasting starts to the season, and the two sides should be relatively fresh ahead of Saturday's game.
Villa had a rare midweek off due to its previous elimination from the Carabao Cup, while Slot's controversial decision to name a weakened side against Palace means the majority of those who will start on Saturday should feel rested.
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