Steve Bruce vows to look after Aston Villa teens
Steve Bruce has admitted teenage stars Keinan Davis and Josh Onomah will occasionally need resting to ensure Villa keep seeing the best of them.
Davis and Onomah, who is on a season-long loan from Premier League Tottenham, have both impressed during the opening three months of the season.
Striker Davis has been nothing short of a revelation after breaking through from the under-23s.
The 19-year-old, who was signed by Villa in November 2015 from non-league Biggleswade Town’s youth team, has scored two goals in 11 league appearances after making his first Championship start in the 4-2 win over Norwich in August.
Davis has been left out of the starting line-up in the last two games but impressed when coming off the bench in Sunday’s Second City derby, almost snatching a winner for Villa with a shot which hit the underside of the bar.
With Jonathan Kodjia struggling with an ankle injury, Davis is expected to lead the line when Villa head to Preston tomorrow night.
Bruce said: “I thought Keinan made a difference on Sunday. He came on and gave us a physical threat up the pitch.
“When you’ve got that, use it. He’s mobile and has a big future.
“He can only get better as long as he keeps his feet on the ground.”
Midfielder Onomah has started the last two games, the 19-year-old putting in a man-of-the-match performance in Villa’s recent 2-1 win over Fulham.
Bruce added: “Josh came in and played very well and there’s going to be times where I have to look after both him and Keinan.
“The young ones will go up and down.
“I detected in the last couple of weeks that Keinan is only a boy and he was exhausted last week.
“But certainly he’s had a meteoric rise.
“Only a few months ago he was at Biggleswade so we have to look after him.”
Jack Grealish and Henri Lansbury both featured for Villa’s under-23s against Newcastle at the Banks’s Stadium last night as they continued recovery from injuries.
Midfielder Lansbury has not featured since being forced out of last month’s EFL Cup defeat to Middlesbrough with a knee injury.
Grealish was meanwhile making his third outing for the youth team since returning to training after more than two months out with kidney damage. Full-back James Bree was also part of Villa’s starting XI.
Gabriel Agbonlahor (calf) and Andre Green (hamstring) remain some distance away from fitness.
