Unai Emery is confident a number of players will be passed fit for Aston Villa’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Captain John McGinn, Emi Martínez, Leon Bailey and Nicolò Zaniolo all sustained knocks on international duty, but Emery is hopeful they will be ready for this weekend.
Jacob Ramsey, Diego Carlos, Álex Moreno and Tim Iroegbunam have also returned to training to hand the Villans a big boost ahead of the trip to Spurs.
Yet Villa will be without Bertrand Traoré, who will be missing alongside long-term absentees Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendía.
Head coach Emery provided an injury update at Friday’s pre-match media briefing.
“John trained well today,” he said.
“Yesterday he came back here with us and he rested.
“But today he was training and, at the end of training, I asked him and he told me he’s ready.
“Hopefully tomorrow it doesn’t change and I think he will be okay for Sunday.”
Emery added: “Some players are coming back after their international matches with a little bit of doubt for Sunday.
“Emi, Leon and Nicolò are hopefully well, but Bertrand Traoré is coming back injured.
“The recovery of Jacob Ramsey, Álex Moreno and Tim is really, really important for us.”
Martínez was competing in World Cup qualifiers with Argentina over international period while Bailey helped Jamaica progress to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Zaniolo guided Italy to qualification for Euro 2024 and Traoré scored in successive matches as Burkina Faso started their quest to reach the 2026 World Cup.
Providing more detail, Emery said: “Leon and Nicolò worked alone this morning trying to test if they are going to be ready for Sunday, and more or less the tests were positive.
“Emi tested this morning as well because he has a small pain, but I think he’s going to be ready for Sunday.
“Bertrand is completely 100% injured and not available for Sunday.”
