Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is hopeful Jack Grealish will have recovered from his calf injury in time to face Wolves on Sunday. Smith has issued a midweek injury update on his Villa squad, with the trip to local rivals Wolves coming into view.
Grealish suffered his calf injury in the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last month but was initially talked about as being in contention for Saturday’s home clash with Liverpool before being ruled out.
The Villa skipper is expected to be back in full training by Thursday at the latest and Smith hopes to have him available for Sunday’s West Midlands derby at Molineux.
He said: “Jack’s calf was just not right at the weekend. Hopefully he will be training on Thursday at the latter part of the week.”
Meanwhile, summer signing Jota is also due to make his return to full first-team training after recovering from a hernia operation three weeks ago and he too could be in contention to face Nuno Espirito Santo’s side if he gets up to speed quickly over the next few days.
Frederic Guilbert suffered a dead leg in the 2-1 defeat against Liverpool but should have shaken that off in time to be available come Sunday, while James Chester is closing in on a return after playing the full 90 minutes in the Under-23s’ win over Newcastle on Monday night.
The defender has not played in the Premier League yet this season but was an unused sub in the 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Wolves last week and, if he does not quite make this weekend’s game, will be available following the international break when Smith’s side host Newcastle on November 25.
Reflecting on Chester’s outing with the youngsters, Smith added on the Villa website: “Chezzie got 90 minutes in the U23s game against Newcastle. That’s really good.”
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