Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that Marcus Rashford picked up a hamstring injury and said that he will miss weeks of action.
Emery’s side were beaten 3-0 by Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon in the FA Cup semi-final, but Rashford was not part of the squad that travelled to London.
Rashford had performed excellently against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their quarter-final clash earlier in April, and his absence on the weekend significantly dampened Villa’s attacking threat.
While Emery has said that the Englishman had suffered a knock in the buildup to the FA Cup match at Wembley, he has since clarified that Rashford could be sidelined for the next “few weeks” at least.
Given Villa only have four games left to play in the Premier League, there is a real possibility that the attacker could miss the rest of the season.
Can Villa qualify for the Champions League without Rashford?
Ollie Watkins was chosen to lead the line against Crystal Palace, and Emery will have to rely on the striker to fire the club to European football.
While Rashford’s injury will undoubtedly weaken the Villans’ chances of securing another season in the Champions League, the Manchester United loanee has only registered direct goal contributions in three of his 10 Premier League matches at the club, scoring two goals and providing two assists.
Rashford would also not have been able to play for Emery in the team’s final game of the season on May 15 given they take on Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Perhaps Watkins will now be able to build rhythm for the final stages of the campaign, though the Villans will likely need other sides to drop points in at least two of their last four fixtures.
Villa are currently in seventh place with 57 points and are three points behind fifth-placed Chelsea, who occupy the final Champions League qualification spot.
However, it should be noted that sixth-placed Nottingham Forest have a game in hand on Villa, and a win in that match would take Forest to third place and mean that Emery’s side would be four points behind fifth-placed Manchester City.
Villa have made remarkable progress under Emery, but it is difficult to see them closing the gap to the Champions League spots considering there are so few games left to play.
