Brendan Rodgers and Unai Emery will pit their wits against one another when Celtic travel down to face Aston Villa on Wednesday night.
There will be a crazy 18 games on one night and Celtic’s first meeting with Villa will have huge significance.
Both teams can still secure an automatic spot, those in the Midlands have more of a chance because they are one place below and level on points with eighth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
Leading up to the match, Celtic have had some rest following their win over Young Boys after their Premiership clash against Dundee was postponed because of Storm Eowyn.
Whilst on Sunday, Villa recorded a 1-1 draw against West Ham United and failed to win a game post a midweek game in Europe for the sixth time this season.
But that wasn’t the big talking point from the match, with Tyrone Mings going off in tears after suffering a serious-looking knee injury.
Aston Villa’s shortage of centre-backs ahead of Celtic clash
When Mings went off in the first half, Unai Emery opted to put left-back Lucas Digne alongside Ezri Konsa at the heart of the defence.
After Konsa and Mings, Villa don’t have a senior centre-back to pick from – there is the option of youngster Lamare Bogarde – because they sold Diego Carlos to Fenerbahce this month.
Even if Villa bring in a centre-back via the January transfer market, he won’t join before the Celtic game, as Emery shared his thoughts on Mings’ injury, as posted by John Townley on Twitter.
“After the first test we did, I think it is not a relevant injury for a long time,” said Emery. “Tomorrow we will test again and better. We will know how important his injury is. We are positive.”
Tyrone Mings offers injury update as Villa prepare for Celtic clash
It needs to be noted that Mings was sidelined for the entire 2023/24 campaign after suffering a knee injury on the opening day against Newcastle United.
On three occasions in his career, he has suffered these types of injuries, so it’s not helpful to his body and you can understand his reaction when he first went off against the Hammers.
But, from Villa’s perspective, it looks like it was just a scare and he is good to go, although, it still doesn’t guarantee he will start against Celtic because Emery might not want to risk him.
If he doesn’t, then it might be the case of left-back Digne starting alongside Konsa.
“I’ve had some serious knee injuries, this isn’t one of them,” wrote Mings. “Thank You for all your messages.”
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