Aston Villa hopeful Jack Grealish will face Forest
Villa are hopeful Jack Grealish will be ready for Sunday's game against Nottingham Forest after the winger was forced to withdraw from England Under-21s duty.
The 20-year-old returned to Bodymoor Heath yesterday for treatment on a knee injury sustained while training with Gareth Southgate's team ahead of tonight's European Championship qualifier with Norway.
Though the injury is not thought to be serious, it does add another unwanted headache for Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo, who was already monitoring the fitness of several players ahead of this weekend's return to league action.
The Italian was reasonably optimistic both striker Rudy Gestede (hamstring) and Aaron Tshibola (groin) would recover from the injuries which kept them out of the 3-1 defeat at Bristol City. But Villa are yet to reveal the extent of the Achilles injury which saw left-back Aly Cissokho forced off early at Ashton Gate.
Under-21 boss Southgate revealed how Grealish had sustained the injury during training and was being sent back as a precautionary measure.
"Jack picked up a knock in training," he said.
"We are hopeful it is not too serious but we didn't think he would be ready for the game and we wanted to give Aston Villa the opportunity to get him ready for the weekend. We are hopeful it is not too bad."
