Aston Villa suffered a frustrating 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday evening at Villa Park.
Unai Emery will be kicking himself after Ollie Watkins missed two glorious chances to score before Leandro Trossard’s opener, with Matty Cash suffering an injury.
Aston Villa beat West Ham United for their opening match of the new Premier League season, with Cash starting at right-back instead of Kosta Nedeljkovic.
This is despite Nedeljkovic being Villa’s best player in pre-season, as Emery opted for experience over the youth of the 18-year-old.
But Cash went off injured with a muscle issue at the London Stadium last week and many thought he wouldn’t be available for the Arsenal match.
Yet, he was primed and ready to start, as he faired well in his early battle against Gabriel Martinelli.
But after 16 minutes, Cash was on the floor and hobbling off and it looked like the same issue reared its ugly head again.
Nedeljkovic came on, and for such a young age, he faired pretty well and held his own until Trossard’s impact at the end caused him problems.
Towards the back end of the previous campaign, Cash had a similar injury issue and he missed the final leg of the season, before being left out of Poland’s Euro 2024 squad.
The 27-year-old is hoping this recent setback isn’t another spell on the sidelines because his form hasn’t been great and he needs regular starts to get back to his best.
Nonetheless, after Villa’s defeat to Arsenal, Cash took to his Instagram story to update fans with the following message.
Matty Cash injury
‘So gutted, I’ll be back stronger,’ wrote the right-back on his IG story
Aston Villa’s transfer links with Lutsharel Geertruida
For large parts of the previous campaign, Ezri Konsa played at right-back, performed very well and kept Cash out of the team.
But he has since returned to centre-back and you wonder if this Cash injury will accelerate the club’s transfer plans before Friday’s deadline.
Villa have been linked with Lutsharel Geertruida. The Feyenoord captain, just like Konsa, can play as a centre-half and as a fullback.
You feel it would be wise to put the money on the table and bring him in before next Friday’s transfer deadline.
