Crystal Palace boost as Aston Villa sweat injury to 'outstanding' forward

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is sweating over the fitness of key man Morgan Rogers ahead of midweek action against Crystal Palace and Friday night's FA Cup visit of Cardiff City.

The Villains picked up a 2-1 win against Chelsea at Villa Park on Saturday evening. January signing Marco Asensio was at the double in a comeback inspired by Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford.

Emery's side now make the trip to Selhurst Park buoyed by that form but could be without Rogers after the forward came off with 78 minutes on the clock against Chelsea. Providing an update ahead of the midweek fixtures, the Aston Villa manager was quietly hopeful that the 22-year-old would be available, but was still unable to confirm that.

Aston Villa confirm injury news ahead of Crystal Palace

He said: "Morgan is playing a lot of minutes because physically he can get it. Today he had a kick and asked me to replace him. Hopefully he can play on Tuesday against Palace."

It's been a spectacular season for Rogers, who was signed by Aston Villa from Middlesbrough for £4 million just over a year ago. The England international has 11 goals and six assists in all competitions.

Aston Villa not only face Crystal Palace on Tuesday evening, but are then back in action for the FA Cup tie with Cardiff City just a few days later on Friday. Should Rogers miss that fifth round tie, that will be a blow for the Villains with the player having scored in both of their FA Cup fixtures so far this term.

Crystal Palace and Cardiff City won't need reminding of the threat Rogers can pose, an inspired UEFA Champions League hat-trick against Celtic just a few weeks ago proof of that. Speaking about that game on TNT Sports, pundit Stilyan Petrov heaped praise on Rogers.

Villains forward has been ‘joy to watch’ this season

He said: "He was a joy to watch. We talked about him before the game, what he offers to the Villa team, what he brings to the Villa team.

"He was just outstanding, we saw everything from the young man. He looked like a mature player. He looked like he is going to be a star. He could have scored another two.

"In the second half, Brendan Rodgers changed the tactics a little bit, he put two players to man mark Rogers, and he has just managed to adapt, to move to a different position and find space so he can score goals. He was absolutely fantastic."

Aston Villa are also to make a call on the fitness of Tyrone Mings ahead of Crystal Palace. The centre-back appeared to pick up a slight knee problem against Chelsea. Meanwhile, Axel Disasi is set to return to the side - he missed out against the Blues as he is on loan at Villa Park from the west London outfit.

In other news, Millwall boss Alex Neil has issued a triple Millwall injury update ahead of this weekend's FA Cup tie with Crystal Palace.