Nakamba Fit To Return Against Tottenham
After marking his return from a long-term injury in the U23s game against Stoke City last weekend, Zimbabwe International Marvelous Nakamba could make his first team competitive return against Tottenham on Saturday
Nakamba has been out since sustaining a serious knee injury against Liverpool in December 2021, which resulted in him missing 18 matches for Aston Villa.
Nakamba made his return from injury after playing 60 minutes in an exciting Premier League 2 encounter against Stoke City on Saturday and Premier injury expert Ben Dinnery believes the Zimbabwean has an ‘outside chance’ to feature against Tottenham.
“It’s not like we have to be overly cautious as we would with a mascular issue,” said Dinnery, the founder of reliable Premier Injuries, a website used to track and record injury data for the British Premier League.
“With the knee as long as the integrity of the structure is sound, it is just a case of building fitness.”
“He has played for the U23s. So you could not rule out the possibility of him making the match day squad soon.”
“If not for the Tottenham game then, he is certainly going to be available for Leicester fixture
But he has an outside chance of being involved in the match day squad this weekend, although it would not be a start,” said Dinnery.
Nakamba has been a revelation for Villa since the arrival of Steven Gerrard at Villa Park, starting in all first five games of the former Rangers manager’s start to life in the premier league as a manager with the former Club Brugge man turning into a head cornerstone of the team.
From the five matches, Villa registered three wins against Brighton Hove, Crystal Palace and Leicester City, losing 1-2 to Manchester City and 1-0 to Liverpool- in where the Zimbabwean was substituted in the 57th minutes after sustaining injury.
His return will be a big boost for Villa who are currently without a defensive midfieder-a position which is central to Gerrard’s tactics.
Villa are currently on the 11th on the log with 36 points from 30 games.