Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish was on the bench last night as James Chester took the captain’s armband against Liverpool.
Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has taken to Twitter with a post-match message following the Villa Park side’s League Cup quarter-final win over Liverpool.
The 24-year-old was one of several first-team players to drop out of the starting XI as Dean Smith rotated the squad for the game against the Reds, who were forced to deploy a young squad due to their Club World Cup commitments in Qatar the following day.
Grealish’s captaincy was handed to James Chester for the Villa Park clash, the defender making his first senior appearance in claret and blue since January, and put in a confident and assured display en route to his side’s progress to the semi-finals.
Last season, Chester pretty much ran himself into the ground for Villa in the latter stages of the calendar year as, despite having knee injuries, he soldiered on playing in defence during an injury crisis at the back around the festive period.
By the time January came round and Smith could finally bring in reinforcements at centre-back, recalling Tommy Elphick from Hull City and signing Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause initially on loan, Chester would not play again that season as it took him until May to recover from his knee problems.
Grealish paid tribute to his teammate on Twitter, describing him as a “Rolls Royce” of a player:
The draw for the semi-finals will take place at Kassam Stadium on Wednesday 18 December following the conclusion of Oxford United’s clash with Manchester City.
The first legs of the semi-finals are due to take place in the week commencing 6 January with the second legs played on week commencing 27 January, while the final is scheduled to take place on Sunday 24 February.
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