There is uncertainty surrounding Matty Cash’s availability for Aston Villa’s Premier League meeting with Nottingham Forest this weekend.
Forest make the trip to the West Midlands on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off, still searching for their first victory of the campaign. Oliver Glasner’s side have collected two points from their opening three league matches after draws against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, and will be hoping to finally get their first win on the board.
While Forest have enjoyed a full week to prepare for their trip to Villa Park, their opponents were in European action during the week. Aston Villa secured a 3-2 victory away at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
However, former Forest academy graduate Cash was absent from Villa’s matchday squad for the game in Belgium. Birmingham Live reported that the defender was left at home after experiencing muscle discomfort.
Villa opted to take no chances with their first-choice right-back, handing Aaron Wan-Bissaka his debut instead. It remains to be seen whether Cash will recover in time to face his former club, with Unai Emery expected to provide an update when he speaks to the media on Friday.
Villa were also without Leon Goretzka, Johan Manzambi and Brian Madjo through injury against Club Brugge, although Madjo was not included in their Champions League squad regardless.
Forest, meanwhile, will be hoping to head into the contest with an almost fully fit squad. Midfielder Ibrahim Sangare was not risked during last Saturday’s draw with Tottenham after missing the previous trip to Anfield with a minor knock.
Full-back Nicolo Savona remains unavailable as he continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury, although he is making encouraging progress. Glasner recently suggested that the Italian could return to training with his teammates either during or shortly after the upcoming international break.
Explaining Sangare’s absence following the 0-0 draw at the City Ground, Glasner said: “He was not risked. We always have Tuesday and Wednesday as quite intense sessions. Here, he was not training with the team or just partly in the last two days. There were no issues and we said we don’t want to take any risks.
“It means now he gets an individual session today (Sunday), Monday he can relax and on Tuesday he should be completely fine. Everybody aside from Savona would have been available, but it just makes no sense risking anything at the beginning of the season.”