Ross Barkley will miss Monday’s trip to West Ham United having been ruled out for 2-3 weeks with his hamstring injury.
The creative attacking midfielder was forced off in the opening minutes of last weekend’s defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
But head coach Dean Smith insists Barkley’s injury is not as bad as first feared.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Smith said: “Ross obviously got a hamstring injury against Brighton so he’s going to be out for 2-3 weeks.
“Nothing more than that, it’s not as bad as what we first feared.
“He should be back in 2-3 weeks, he’s done a week already, obviously.”
Smith added: “We signed Ross because he’s a quality player and if you have quality players come out of your team it’s going to affect you a little bit.
“Plus we’ve got nobody similar to Ross in terms of how he plays. So it will be a loss.
“But we won our first two games without Ross as well, so we certainly haven’t lost sight of that.”
Aston Villa travel to London Stadium looking to get back on track after defeat to the Seagulls and continue their 100% away record in the Premier League.
And Smith offered an injury update on his squad ahead of the Hammers clash.
“Kortney Hause is back in training, this game probably comes too soon for him,” he said.
“Same for Fred Guilbert.
“We’re hoping Keinan Davis is on the training pitch on Sunday."
