Aston Villa suffer injury blow as £31.5m star is now a huge doubt for Chelsea FA Cup game

Aston Villa are sweating over the fitness of their experienced defender Pau Torres ahead of their visit to Chelsea next week for the FA Cup fourth-round game. Unai Emery is already missing Tyrone Mings, Emi Buendia and Lucas Digne for the game at Stamford Bridge.

The Spain defender has been battling a minor injury but did make a return against Burnley before suffering a setback and missing the last two games against Middlesbrough and Everton. He is now a massive doubt for the game according to injury expert Dr Rajpal Brar.

The medical expert told AstonVillanews: "I’d assume it was a grade 1 with how relatively quickly he returned initially v Burnley. He won’t be back to 100% until he has a run of games and consistent minutes so yes, he’s very very likely not at 100% yet.

"However, he was then missing from the matchday squads in the subsequent games, which means he still remains a doubt for the next one."

Chelsea have their own injury worries with French forward Christopher Nkunku a doubt having missed the last three games due to a hip injury. They will also be without club captain Reece James and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. 

Striker Nicolas Jackson is in the Ivory Coast with Senegal for the AFCON but Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka are back to full fitness and will provide manager Mauricio Pochettino with a massive boost going into the League Cup game on Tuesday night and then the FA Cup game on Friday night.