Aston Villa have been handed a major boost ahead of their Premier League clash against Tottenham, with Bertrand Traore set to be fit for action.
The Athletic’s Gregg Evans confirmed via his official Twitter account that Traore is on painkillers and should be available to play against Spurs – this followed on comments from Dean Smith about the Burkina Faso international.
Speaking about the 25-year-old in his pre-match press conference, the Villa manager said: “He got a whack in the rib when he took a tumble over the billboards at Newcastle and was in a lot of pain.
“He went to hospital but thankfully there is no bleed and he’s just had painkillers for it so he should be available on Sunday.”
Dubbed an “immense talent” by Smith, Traore hasn’t really set Villa Park alight with his performances this season, and has been fairly streaky with his form – after going on a run of four goals and an assist in six Premier League games over the course of December and January, the winger has found the back of the net just once in his last ten top-flight matches.
Despite the lack of end product recently, Traore remains the kind of player who can create a moment of magic out of nothing, and has been one of Villa’s most potent creative forces this season.
As per Whoscored, the winger’s average of 1.5 shots and 1.2 key passes per game in the Premier League ranks him fifth in both categories among all Villa players.
His performance against Newcastle earlier this calendar year was particularly impressive, and starkly showed the kind of devastating impact he can when things are going well for him.
It’s exactly why Smith will surely be buzzing at the positive injury update on the £55,000-a-week earning Traore, and why once again he will be counting on the Burkina Faso native to try and conjure a piece of brilliance against Spurs today.
Meanwhile, Villa should unleash this academy talent…