Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says Amadou Onana will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea, but Jacob Ramsey remains sidelined.
The former has missed Villa’s last two games - a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace and the stalemate with Juventus in the Champions League - after picking up an injury whilst on international duty with Belgium.
Meanwhile, Ramsey too has been unavailable for selection of late having been forced off with a hamstring problem in the 2-0 loss away at Liverpool earlier in the month.
The pair are Villa’s only injury concerns going into the meeting against the Blues and Emery has confirmed Ramsey’s absence, although he is hopeful of welcoming Onana back into the matchday squad.
“The last match we were without Onana and Ramsey,” he told reporters. “Ramsey is going to be out as well (on Sunday).
“But Onana, it depends how he is progressing and tomorrow if he can train or not, we’ll see.”
Villa do have an excellent recent record at Stamford Bridge having won on their last two trips there. However, they are without a win in seven games across all competitions and Emery has urged his side to rise to the occassion against a fellow top-seven contender.
“We are Aston Villa, and we are in our process. We are more or less getting our high demands, but to be consistent is our next challenge,” he added.
“We won two times, we drew as well in the FA Cup [at Chelsea], now it is a different match, some different players, different coach for them, different moment for them, they are feeling comfortable and consistency, progressively getting better.
“The challenge is this Sunday, and the challenge is where we are now in the table.
“The thing we have in our mind is trying to face one team, a contender more than us to be in the top seven.
“We want to face them. We want to fight as well to be competing with the teams who are contenders to be in the top seven. At the moment we are, we were better one month ago, but still the possibility is to be there.”
