Aston Villa dealt double injury blow as Unai Emery makes Sheffield United prediction

Aston Villa are expected to be without Pau Torres and Nicolo Zaniolo this weekend when they travel to face Sheffield United. Villa will be keen to get back on track in the Premier League on Saturday after seeing their unbeaten home record ended by Newcastle United in midweek.

But Unai Emery will be without key men at Bramall Lane, it seems, with Torres and Zaniolo in the treatment room alongside Luca Digne and Jhon Duran. Torres, who has missed Villa's last two Premier League games, has recently returned to training but Emery has confirmed he won't be fit enough to take on the Blades.

Neither will Zaniolo, who pulled up in training on Friday morning while the club were preparing for the challenge of Chris Wilder's side.

"He is getting better, he is practising on the pitch," Emery said on Torres. "That is the first step before he can join us next week."

“[Zaniolo] felt this morning in training some pain. He was not feeling good and did not finish the session. He is not in the squad. Hopefully it is not a big problem.”

Villa know all about the threat the Blades can cause having come within a couple of minutes of defeat in the reverse fixture at Villa Park just before Christmas and Emery is expecting a similarly resolute and aggressive showing from Wilder's side this time around.

“Tomorrow in Sheffield is a very important match for us after the defeat we had at home to Newcastle," he added. "We are really excited and motivated to play tomorrow.

“The most important thing is how we can face the match and our preparation for the match. We worked this morning and we’re going to travel after lunch.

“We are going to try to focus 100% on the match and it’s very important. It’s difficult as well because playing away is always difficult.

“When teams are playing at home they try to show their supporters their qualities and wishes to play, trying to win. I will face a team being more aggressive than when they played against us at home. Sometimes they will play defensively lower, but they were successful against us like that.

“They could feel comfortable playing like that at home, but at home it’s completely sure for me they are going to try to play being more offensive than they were here.”