Early Aston Villa team news v Leeds United: Leon Bailey among trio ruled out
Aston Villa will be without Leon Bailey, Bertrand Traore and Marvelous Nakamba when they play Leeds United on Wednesday, Steven Gerrard has confirmed.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday ahead of Leeds’ trip to Villa Park, Gerrard said that while 24-year-old forward Bailey is back in training, the game will come too soon for him.
Traore, 26, is yet to return from the Africa Cup of Nations after Burkina Faso made the third-place playoff while Nakamba, 28, is also ruled out.
As quoted by BBC Radio Leeds journalist Adam Pope on Tuesday, Gerrard said: “We’ve now got Leon Bailey back in full training although he won’t be in the squad.
“Traore is in transit [from AFCON] so to get them back in the squad in the coming fixtures will be a big help.
“Outside of that, there’s only Nakamba who’s missing.”
Still a tough game
Although Villa will be without three important players, they’re still going to be a tough team to beat.
Let’s face it, none of those three players might have been in the starting line-up even if they’re available.
Between them this season, they’ve started just 13 times in the Premier League with Bailey, especially, not having the impact that many Villa fans would have expected since his £25million move from Bayer Leverkusen.
Bailey’s had numerous injury issues since joining the Birmingham-based club in the summer and played just nine times, scoring one goal in the process.
Nakamba has been out injured for almost two months but was seen as an important player for Gerrard once he was hired to replace Dean Smith.
As for Traore, he did really well with Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations as they finished fourth overall in the competition.
He’s hardly played for Villa this season though, so he won’t be a miss for them.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have suffered a “massive blow” ahead of the Aston Villa game.