Aston Villa will face West Ham United in their next Premier League clash at Villa Park on Monday night.
In the pre-match press conference, Villa boss Dean Smith has confirmed that Jonathan Kodjia will miss the game against the Hammers.
Villa have been dealt a big blow as Kodjia has suffered a fractured cheekbone in a freak training ground accident.
The Ivory Coast international suffered a clash of heads with midfielder Marvelous Nakamba during training and he is now set for a longer spell on the sidelines.
According to reports from the Express and Star, the 29-year-old has undergone surgery and he is expected to miss between two to three weeks.
His injury looks more severe than first thought. Kodjia recently recovered from an ankle sprain suffered in the opening day 3-1 defeat to Tottenham. Smith has confirmed that Kodjia has undergone an operation.
“He’ll be back non-contact at first, and we’ve seen how you can wear masks, we’ll certainly be looking at that longer down the line,” said Smith.
“He’d had some bad luck, the first challenge he went in for at Tottenham after coming on, he got an ankle injury, he carried on, but from then on he was struggling.
“But he’s come back to fitness and the first thing he does is clash heads with Marvelous, ends up in hospital and unfortunately needs an operation.”
As a result, Villa now have Wesley and Keinan Davis as their only fit centre-forwards. Some Villa fans have taken to social networking site Twitter to express their reactions:
He’s been out for 2 years imo
— Harry⚡️ (@avfcharry_) September 13, 2019
crying now
— Alisha 🤩 (@alishaavfc) September 13, 2019
I won’t say it..
— Joe Flynn (@joeflynnphoto) September 13, 2019
Ffs
— James Lancaster 🏴 (@jlancaster0902) September 13, 2019
That’s another big lose he can be a great super sub. Really looks like not getting a second striker will come back to haunt us. Guess we will be getting one in Jan. Kodjia has had an awful time of injuries with us.
— Christopher Quain (@chrisquain) September 13, 2019
Shows we should have bought another striker! Only criticism of our super summer transfer window #AVFC
— Richard Armstrong (@RicardoAVFC) September 13, 2019
The newly-promoted Premier League side have made a sluggish start to the season, having lost three of their opening four games in the league.
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