Emi Martínez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins are all unavailable for Aston Villa’s UEFA Super Cup clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
The trio remain unavailable after progressing to the latter stages of the World Cup, with Villa boss Unai Emery confirming they have been given an extended period of rest.
“They are not here – Konsa, Watkins and Martínez because they finished their season on 19th July and I gave them four weeks to rest, it’s completely necessary,” said Emery.
“They are not here tomorrow.
“Of course, if they were here, maybe we could have more chances.
“But, at the same time, I think PSG are going to be in the same situation like us.”
Villa will instead rely on the players who have been involved in their preparations over the past four weeks, with Emery also set to call upon some younger members of his squad.
“Tomorrow we are preparing this game with the players we started, even some young players, four weeks ago,” he added.
“And tomorrow I expect to compete and try to face them with our capacity and our possibilities as well to beat them.
“Of course, they are favourites.”
I bet the 6k supporters who have spent a lot of money to travel aren’t too happy personally I wouldn’t be considering our excuse for their absence doesn’t wash as several PSG players who were also involved in the latter stages of the World Cup are in the PSG team and ready to go with no fatigue problems.
How can that be justified the obvious answer is they want it a Lot more than us and surely that can’t be right.