The centre-back and Scottish striker both look set to miss Saturday’s game at Leeds United.
Nathan Baker and Ross McCormack are both serious doubts for Aston Villa’s match at Leeds United on Saturday evening, manager Steve Bruce has revealed at his pre-match press conference.
Baker, who has started Villa’s past six games, was forced off at half-time of last weekend’s 3-1 home win over Cardiff City with a groin problem and now looks unlikely to make the trip to Elland Road.
He was replaced by fellow centre-back Tommy Elphick against Cardiff and the former Bournemouth defender is expected to come into the starting XI alongside James Chester for the clash with Garry Monk’s men.
McCormack, meanwhile, missed last month’s 1-1 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion through suspension after picking up five bookings this season and then subsequently sat out the Cardiff match due to a sore ankle.
The Scottish forward, who scored 58 goals in 154 total appearances for Leeds between 2010 and 2014 before making an £11 million move to Fulham, received a fitness boost after returning to full training this week, but the game against his old club looks to have come too soon for him to feature.
“It’s still a bit too early for Ross. It’s his ankle,” Bruce told reporters at his press conference. “He trained on Wednesday and Thursday but it’s still too soon for him. He needs another week or ten days, really.
“Nathan came off against Cardiff and it doesn’t look like he’s going to make it. To be fair, everyone else is fine.”
Villa go into the Leeds game sitting 11th in the Championship table with 25 points from 18 matches and unbeaten under Bruce after recording four wins and three draws in his seven matches in charge.
Their form has certainly improved significantly since the former Hull City boss replaced Roberto Di Matteo at the helm in October with the club marred in 19th place, but he admits that he is yet to get the team playing exactly the way he wants.
“It’s been seven or eight weeks. You hope you have seven, eight or even 18 months before you get the team the way you really, really want it,” Bruce added at his press conference. “But I think it’s fair to say that getting a couple of results helps everybody. It certainly help myself and it helps the team because they belief that what we’re doing is right.
“So I think that’s vitally important. At the moment, we’re doing ok. I think we can still improve but we’ve had a marked improvement which is pretty evident for everybody to see.”
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