James Chester discusses form of Aston Villa teammate Jordan Amavi

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The defender has been hugely impressed with what he has seen from Amavi since his return from injury.

Aston Villa defender James Chester has told AVTV that he has been hugely impressed with what he has seen from teammate Jordan Amavi since the Frenchman’s return from injury, and has backed him to recapture his earlier form.

Amavi was one of Villa’s best players in the weeks after he joined from Nice in the summer of 2015, but his season was ended after just 12 appearances by a cruciate ligament injury suffered on international duty with France Under-21s.

Since he has been reintroduced to action this season he has shown flashes of his talent, and he has been a regular fixture at left-back in the side since Steve Bruce’s appointment.

Largely, he has impressed, although he struggled to cope with tricky Leeds United winger Hadi Sacko in the 2-0 defeat at Elland Road last weekend.

However, despite that blip, Chester insists that he has been hugely impressed with his first impressions of the 22-year-old, and has backed him to get back to his pre-injury form.

Chester told AVTV: “He’s great. I think first and foremost, as a person Jordan’s a really nice lad and someone I’ve been really impressed with since I signed at the club.

“Having seen the early games last season and spoken to people, they all said how impressive he was before he got his injury.

“To see him come back, you can see the improvements in his fitness and the way he’s played in the games he’s had a run of. Hopefully he can get back to the form he showed before his injury, and I see no reason why he can’t.”

Most Villa fans would agree that Amavi is one of the most technically gifted players in the current squad, but though he excels when flying forward down the wing, his defensive nous has occasionally been called into question.

He struggled at Elland Road, but has largely been a solid and dependable performer for the club thus far, and Villa fans will be hoping to see him kick on and thrive in claret-and-blue in the second half of the season and for years to come.