Aston Villa front man Emile Heskey could be out for up to a month after sustaining a knee injury in training on Wednesday. The news comes on the back of the revelation that captain Stiliyan Petrov is likely to miss out for at least three months with the ligament damage he picked up in the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. Heskey has been in good form under Houllier, having worked with him at Liverpool, scoring 3 in his last 6 appearances with two of those coming from the bench. The injury leaves John Carew and Nathan Delfouneso as the only fit first team strikers with Gabby Agbonlahor’s groin injury taking longer to heal than anticipated. With Carew lacking in confidence in the box and without a goal all season I think it should be time to give Delfouneso a chance after fine form with the reserves this season.
The news comes as a big blow to Villa’s hopes ahead of the weekends clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage. Gabby Agbonlahor has seemingly been ‘close’ to a return for the last month and his pace up front has been sorely missed. One man who could fill his boots would be Nathan Delfouneso who scored his first league last season but has still only played 187 minutes of football in the league. The 19-year-old’s finishing is proven with goals in the Europa, League and FA Cup to his name. Either way the injury to Heskey has piled on more misery to Houllier who has been out of luck on the injury front since joining the club. It was revealed that the 32-year-old has torn his medial meniscus and we all know what that is I’m sure! A club statement read;
“Emile Heskey will miss the clash with Fulham after picking up a knee injury.”
“Heskey tore the medial meniscus in his right knee yesterday in training [Wednesday] with no other player involved in the incident. The injury will require an operation and he faces between three to four weeks out of action.”
