Aston Villa boss Smith offers Trezeguet injury update

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has downplayed the severity of Mahmoud Hassan ‘Trezeguet’ head injury during their 2-1 defeat to West Ham United.

During the Premier League encounter played at the London Stadium on November 30, the Egypt international went down under the challenge of Declan Rice while trying to connect to Douglas Luiz’s flick in the 71st minute.

That left Trezeguet with a deep cut with the medical team rushing to the field to attend to his bleeding head. Subsequently, he was replaced by Netherlands international Anwar El Ghazi.

Although the referee awarded a penalty to the Villans, Ollie Watkins missed from the penalty mark – failing to beat Lukasz Fabianski who dived the wrong way.

Meanwhile, Smith has revealed that the former Anderlecht and Kasimpasa star is not down with a serious injury and has commenced training with the rest of the squad.

“Trez won the penalty and unfortunately caught his head on Declan Rice’s boot and ended up with a head injury which has been glued,” the 49-year-old Englishman told Aston Villa TV.

“He’s been self-administering a bandage around his head while he trains but he’s still been doing a couple of headers so he’s fine.”

Aston Villa’s fixture against Newcastle United over the weekend was postponed because of a local Covid-19 outbreak as positive cases reached double figures.

The Magpies will wait for more test results before holding a meeting with the Premier League and Public Health England to determine when they can return to training.

In nine games played so far in the 2020-21 English top-flight campaign, Trezeguet contributed a great deal, helping his side secure five wins to sit 12th after accruing 15 points with two games in hand.

If the statement by his manager is anything to go by, he is expected to be fit for their next league outing against Wolverhampton Wanderers on December 12 at the Molineux Stadium.

10th placed Wolves would be hoping to return to winning ways in the wake of their recent 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.