The French left-back and versatile Dutchman could both feature at Brighton on Friday night after returning to full training this week, but Steve Bruce has a decision to make over Mile Jedinak.
Jordan Amavi and Leandro Bacuna will both be fit for Aston Villa’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday night, manager Steve Bruce has revealed at his pre-match press conference.
Amavi, who has started Villa’s past three games, was forced to withdraw from France Under-21 duty last week after suffering a foot injury, while Bacuna sat out the 1-1 draw at Birmingham City and subsequent 2-1 home win over Blackburn Rovers earlier this month with a groin problem.
Both players have since returned to full training, however, and are now ready to face the Seagulls at the Amex in a game which will see the claret and blues move into the top half of the Championship table if they take all three points.
The Villa squad is relatively healthy at the moment, with Ritchie de Laet and third-choice goalkeeper Jed Steer the only long-term absentees, but Micah Richards is set to miss his fourth straight match as he continues to recover from the knee injury picked up in last month’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Asked to provide an update on the fitness ahead of his side ahead of the trip to the south cast, Bruce told reporters: “Jordan Amavi looks as if he’s ok. He had a horrible cut on his foot, but it looks at the moment as if he’s ok.
“Bacuna is fine. He’s trained the last week. He wasn’t great the week before. He had to miss the derby game but he’s ok. Micah Richards is, unfortunately, not quite right, but I think with Micah it’s just going to be a long, drawn-out affair. We’ll try to manage the situation as best we can.”
If Bacuna is brought into the Villa line-up for Friday night’s game, he could potentially replace Mile Jedinak in the centre of midfield.
The 32-year-old Australia international has started all five of Bruce’s matches in charge since he was named as Roberto Di Matteo’s successor in early October, but he has only just returned to Bodymoor Heath after scoring both of the Socceroos’ goals in their 2-2 draw away at Thailand on Tuesday.
“I have just seen Mile Jedinak for the first time this morning – he was playing in Thailand on Tuesday,” Bruce said at his press conference. “I said after the Blackburn game that he’d be out but he’s just scored twice for Australia and he’s playing very, very well at the moment.
“We will see how he is today and tomorrow. My initial thought was that it would be too far but he dropped a big hint to me in saying ‘it’s not too bad because it’s only Thailand – Australia is another several hours from there!
“He’s just walked through the door and picked up a cup of coffee and I will have a conversation with him. Knowing him, he will want to play, which is always refreshing to hear.
“But I have to make sure he is not fatigued. I will make that decision. It’s the big, key one.”
Jonathan Kodjia, meanwhile, had a somewhat shorter trip back to Birmingham than Jedinak after playing 68 minutes in the Ivory Coast’s 0-0 friendly draw with France in Lens on Tuesday night, but Bruce has nevertheless been frustrated at not being able to work with the in-form striker and some of his teammates over the last two weeks.
Villa went into the international break unbeaten under Bruce with 11 points from five games, and the former Hull City boss is hoping they can quickly pick up where they left off when they face Brighton.
“It’s frustrating. We didn’t want that to happen, but that’s what it is,” he added on the timing of the latest break. “The one thing we’ve been able to do before the international break is prepare the team and that’s all we’ve done really.
“The last 12 days, we haven’t been able to do that. I haven’t seen two or three of them up until now. I’ve just seen Jedinak and Kodjia.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen them since last Saturday. In that respect, it’s always frustrating. It looks as if everybody has come back OK which is always a plus point, but it has come at the wrong time for us.”
In other Villa team news, Ross McCormack will miss the Brighton match having picked up five bookings this season, meaning Jordan Ayew will likely return to the line-up after sitting out the win over Blackburn for the same reason.
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