Aston Villa remains without its captain, Jack Grealish, for the third consecutive game in the Premier League. The ‘villains’ face Sheffield United on Wednesday and coach Dean Smith announced that they will do so without their star.
Grealish has yet to recover from a muscle injury suffered during training last month, but Smith said he was hopeful the English international will return to the group later this week.
“He will not be ready for tomorrow's game, he will not travel with us,” Smith said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“We will decide if we can take him to training camp later in the week. He is working with the doctor and the rehabilitation staff every day. “
Smith indicated that “it's frustrating because he's a great player and we'd be a better team if we had him. But it's one of those things: Players get injured. This is how you get by without those better players. “
In Grealish's absence, Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi stepped forward to score the winning goal against Leeds United on Saturday, his first goal in two months.
“He has done very well when they called him. He had a really fruitful December and I think John McGinn came out under his new name, 'Anwar El Goalzi,' “Smith joked.
“He has just joined the team and he needs confidence. When he is a confident player, he seems like a great player ”.
Villa are ninth in the standings with 39 points, while Sheffield United is in last place.