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James Collins injury boost for Villa

Villa breathed a sigh of relief today after defender James Collins was cleared to travel to Portugal despite his first-minute injury scare in the game at Walsall.

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Villa breathed a sigh of relief today after defender James Collins was cleared to travel to Portugal despite his first-minute injury scare in the game at Walsall.

The defender pulled up with a calf problem within the opening 30 seconds of last night's 2-1 win at the Banks's Stadium and had to be replaced by Carlos Cuellar.

Collins, who has been dogged by injury niggles throughout pre-season, underwent scans earlier today and was given the green light to fly out with the rest of the squad this afternoon for this weekend's Guadiana Cup.

The news comes as a boost to Villa with the new season little more than a fortnight away, but whether the Wales star will be fit to feature in the three-team tournament, which also involves Benfica and Feyenoord, remains to be seen.

His injury problems have been a cause for concern for boss Martin O'Neill, who saw his side go two ahead courtesy of a brace from Andreas Weimann before Alex Nicholls' late consolation.

He said: "James had felt his calf a little bit in the warm up, but decided to go ahead with it and lasted less than a minute of the game. That was obviously a blow to him. His pre-season has been kind of stop start.

"A couple of little niggling things he picked up along the way, he hasn't been able to shake them off and you don't want them to get any more serious."

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