Aston Villa handed late injury blow pre-Brighton as Ashley Preece relays news on 'great player'

Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece has relayed injury news regarding Bertrand Traore ahead of the club’s trip to Brighton this afternoon.

The winger has started just one Premier League game all season due to injury and recently returned to the Midlands from the Africa Cup of Nations with a fresh problem.

The 26-year-old helped Burkina Faso to the semi-finals of the tournament, playing 437 minutes of action in five fixtures.

However, he is yet to feature for Villa after returning from international duty due to a hamstring problem, with reports last week suggesting that there was hope he would be available for Steven Gerrard against the Seagulls today as his injury wasn’t as bad as first feared.

However, Preece relayed news to the contrary from Gerrard’s pre-match press conference via Twitter on Friday morning.

He confirmed that Traore, who was hailed as a ‘great player’ by Villa YouTuber Max Stokes, is ‘still out’ with a muscle issue.

You’d expect that Gerrard may decide to ring the changes this afternoon after disappointing displays against Newcastle and Watford in recent weeks.

Villa have failed to score in their last two games against the relegation-threatened pair and lost both times, so on that basis, Traore may have been in Gerrard’s thinking if he were fit.

Instead, he will have to watch on once again and won’t travel with the squad to the south coast, leaving Gerrard short of one attacking wide option, which isn’t ideal after allowing Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet to leave on loan last month.

In other news: AVFC and Gerrard now likely to move for ‘sensational’ ace with ‘outstanding speed’

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