Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has confirmed that Tom Heaton, Kortney Hause and Frederic Guilbert are available to face Burnley on Thursday.
The trio recently stepped up their match fitness in the reserves, playing a full 90 minutes in Sunday’s defeat to Leeds United under-23s, so Smith has a greater selection at his disposal for the visit of Sean Dyche’s Clarets to Villa Park.
The manager said in his pre-match press conference: “Kortney Hause came through some minutes on Sunday (for the Under-23s), as did Tom Heaton and Frederic Guilbert, they’re all fit for Thursday evening. So we’ve got quite a few players coming back.”
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Heaton returned from a cruciate ligament injury in November – coincidentally against Burnley – and has since featured three times for the reserves to improve his conditioning after being sidelined since January, ironically against his former club. Emiliano Martinez is Dean Smith’s first-choice goalkeeper, but Heaton could replace Jed Steer as Villa’s go-to backup option.
Hause was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and came through unscathed from the Leeds under-23 defeat, so he is likely to make the matchday squad against Burnley.
Guilbert’s return comes at a good time as Matty Cash is suspended for Thursday game, but Ahmed Elmohamady is expected to start at right-back. The Frenchman was an unused substitute against Wolves and should make the bench again as he didn’t pick up any knocks against Leeds.
In other news, Smith hailed one significant improvement from a member of the Aston Villa squad.
