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Pau Torres sends five-word message amid Aston Villa injury scare

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9 months ago

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Aston Villa centre half Pau Torres played his first home game of 2024 in the win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday, but was forced off at half time

It has been nearly two months since Pau Torres last appeared on the Villa Park turf – and his return to action on home soil on Saturday as Aston Villa overcame Nottingham Forest was marked with another win. Spaniard Torres, a summer acquisition from Villarreal, has been an integral part of Unai Emery’s team which is challenging for the Champions League this season.

He has, though, suffered his own injury frustrations recently which have derailed his game time in recent months; Torres was a regular in the back-line up until before Christmas and then featured from the bench in the victory over Burnley at the end of December, but he missed the whole of January and only made his comeback last weekend at Fulham.

Having secured three points in his first outing of 2024, Torres helped Villa follow it up again as they raced into a three-goal lead in the first half before Forest pegged them back, but Leon Bailey’s strike in the second half sealed the triumph and ensured Villa now have a cushion to Tottenham – who didn’t play – and Manchester United – who lost to Fulham – below them.

Villa have uncharacteristically struggled at home in recent weeks; after a wonderful 2023 in which they landed some significant scalps, especially those of Arsenal and Manchester City towards the end of the year, they’ve been turned over by Newcastle United and Man United in the league recently, as well as by Chelsea in the FA Cup. They responded on Saturday, though, with their maiden home league win of the year.

Torres took to social media with a photo of himself celebrating one of Douglas Luiz’s first-half goals with the caption: “Victory’s [sic] back at Villa Park” accompanied by a lion and a flame emoji. Having appeared to shake off his injury issues, Villa Park was then left sweating again over Torres’ fitness when he didn’t re-emerge for the second half.

“Hopefully Pau Torres is not injured but he felt a small pain and we decided not to risk him,” said Emery. “It’s not his ankle. It was a muscular problem, at the back of his leg.” Villa, who are already without Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Diego Carlos at the back, will now undergo a scan to determine the severity of the issue.

Calum Chambers, the lesser spotted defender who was told he could leave in the summer and also in January but who ended up remaining at the club, replaced Torres at the break. His only previous minutes this season have come at various stages of the Europa Conference League campaign. Another defender, Kortney Hause, isn’t included in the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.

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