Aston Villa take on Hull City in the Championship this weekend.
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has told the Birmingham Mail that Sam Johnstone is expected to be fit for this weekend – but Jonathan Kodjia is still at least a month away from returning.
Villa kick off their Championship season on Saturday evening with a home clash against recently-relegated Hull City, and they start the campaign as one of the favourites for promotion.
Bruce has brought in the likes of John Terry, Christopher Samba, Glenn Whelan and Ahmed Elmohamady, with Villa seemingly going down the route of bringing in experienced players in a bid to win promotion back to the Premier League.
The only signing under the age of 28 to have arrived this summer is goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who has returned to Villa Park on a season-long loan deal from Manchester United, having spent the second half of last term with Villa.
Johnstone, 24, made a shaky start to life at Villa Park following his January arrival, but he settled down to become a solid shot-stopper for Villa, keeping a number of clean sheets towards the end of last season.
Johnstone is now expected to be a key player for Villa this season, but he is currently nursing an injury – and the exact same can be said of star striker Jonathan Kodjia ahead of the big kick off this weekend.
27-year-old hit 19 goals in 36 games last season, but suffered a broken ankle back in May, and has been in a race against time to be fit for the new season ever since.
Now, Bruce has told the Birmingham Mail that Johnstone is expected to be fit for this weekend’s clash with Hull, but he did have some bad news on Kodjia’s situation, admitting that he faces at least another month on the sidelines in a huge blow for Villa.
“He trained today, he’ll have a big day tomorrow” said Bruce when asked about Johnstone. “It’s a bit of a kicking muscle. I expect him to be okay.”
“We think a month to six weeks for Kodjia, but the sooner the better,” added Bruce on his talismanic striker.
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