Aston Villa injury update: Featuring Tommy Elphick, Micah Richards and others

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The two defenders are both set to sit out Saturday’s home game against Fulham, while Albert Adomah is also a doubt for the match.

Aston Villa defenders Tommy Elphick and Micah Richards are both unlikely to feature in Saturday’s home game against Fulham, manager Steve Bruce has revealed at his pre-match press conference.

The two players were forced to sit out Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory at Reading after suffering injuries in the second half of last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers and have still not returned to full training ahead of the visit of Slavisa Jokanovic’s side.

Alan Hutton and Nathan Baker deputised at the Madejski Stadium in the pair’s absence and the Scottish right-back and homegrown centre-half are now expected to retain their places for Bruce’s third match in charge.

There may also be a spot in the starting XI for Jordan Ayew, whose last-minute penalty secured Villa all three points against Reading, after Albert Adomah picked up a knock during the midweek win which has put his status in doubt.

Speaking first about Elphick and Richards, Bruce told reporters at his press conference: “I don’t think both of them are going to be ready. Micah’s got an ongoing problem with his knee unfortunately and the calf strain for Tommy has not recovered just yet, and it’s muscle injury so he won’t be available.

“And we’ve given a fitness test to Adomah this morning. He got a kick on his ankle so we’ll so how he is in training.”

One Villa player who will definitely not be featuring on Saturday is Gabby Agbonlahor, but the door is now at least open for him to fight his way back into the first-team reckoning.

The long-serving striker had been training with the Under-23s since the start of the season after being deemed surplus to requirements by former manager Roberto Di Matteo, but Bruce has stressed that he is prepared to give him another chance to revive his claret and blue career.

However, while he has been back working with the senior squad this week, the ex-England international is still some way off reaching the level required to be available for selection and is currently undergoing a six-week fitness programme as he bids to prove his value to his new boss.

“Gabby has dipped in and out with us,” Bruce said during his press conference. “He’s on a programme at the moment, which he is a week into. He’s listened and wants to succeed again.

“This week he’s been terrific in everything we have put to him. He’s worked extremely hard. He understands that he has to get himself in better condition.

“As I said last week, I am not interested in what happened in the past – for me, the slate is wiped clean. The way he’s been this week, no problem.”

Bruce previously had some choice words to say about the overall fitness of the Villa squad following last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolves, when he admitted that he was shocked to see some of his players tire so badly over the course of the 90 minutes.

The comments were obviously taken as a slight against the previous regime at the time, but the ex-Birmingham City boss was keen to play down that suggestion when pressed about it on Friday morning.

“I said some of them could be in a better condition,” Bruce added at this press conference. “Everybody in management has different philosophies and, in my experience of the Championship and Premier League, physicality is a huge, huge part of it. It’s the number one ingredient for myself that you have to get to.

“We’ve done studies at the clubs we’ve been at and unless you get to a certain level you don’t win, no matter how good you are as a football club. So forget all about how good they are as footballers, physically and mentally of course you have to be ready for the challenge of the Championship. And obviously we’ll hopefully progress in that respect.

“But that’s what I’ve see and that’s what I’ve witnessed. Different managers and different people have different philosophies about how they want to see their team up, but certainly that was something that stuck out that we can improve on.”