Steven Gerrard Manager
Steven Gerrard hopes to have Emi Buendia and Philippe Coutinho available for Newcastle this weekend after the pair hobbled off after Aston Villa’s 3-3 draw with Leeds United at Villa Park. Buendia was withdrawn on the hour after taking a whack while two-assist and goal hero Coutinho was forced off with a little over 15 minutes remaining. On Buendia,
Steven Gerrard said: “He’s received a bang so it’s a knock and it’s an impact injury. He’s obviously very sore at the moment but, if he’s telling the truth, I’d rather have an impact bang rather than a muscle situation so I’m hoping it’s going to be days rather than weeks and, hopefully, we can get him ready for the weekend. He was obviously struggling with it. He wanted to carry on and I admire that but it was clear that we had to make a change. We’ll try and get him ready for the weekend.”
As for Coutinho,
Steven Gerrard added: “It was just a bit of tiredness. He had a bit of cramp in a few areas. As I say, we’re still working on his physical condition. We’re still trying to improve that. He’s getting better and better, and stronger. That was just precaution with cramp. He was running out of energy. He gave a lot to the game like a lot of the players did. There’s no issues and I’m sure, with a couple of days of recovery, he’ll be OK for the weekend as well.”
Villa, meanwhile, were pegged back from being 3-1 up thanks to goals from Jacob Ramsey (2) and Coutinho with Dan James (2) and Pascal Struijk on the scoresheet for Leeds. Villa had Ezri Konsa sent off late on for a silly elbow on Illan Meslier which resulted in the centre-back’s second yellow card. On Konsa’s dismissal, which will see him miss the trip to Newcastle on the weekend, Gerrard admitted how he wanted to chuck Danny Ings on but was forced in a like-for-like change as Calum Chambers came on instead.
Steven Gerrard said: “I’m sure he’ll be frustrated. For me, Ezzy, he’s been terrific. He’s got enough in the bank in the short space of time we’ve been together for me to trust him and support him. I don’t think he’ll have complaints. We just have to take the point from that moment on because there were eight minutes of injury time. I wanted at that moment to put Danny Ings on and to twist and go for it, you know, we’re at home and the game’s in the balance and gamble but that was taken away from me and us.”
