Unai Emery speaks out on Amadou Onana injury as Aston Villa blow confirmed

Villa are targeting their first away league win in three months this afternoon as they take on a Fulham side who are hopeful of challenging for a place in Europe in the final weeks of the season.

In Onana’s absence, Lamare Bogarde has come into the starting XI and will operate in the double pivot alongside Youri Tielemans.

Ahead of kick-off, Emery was asked by TNT Sports about Onana’s fitness.

"He was not feeling good yesterday. He had some small pain,” the Villa manager explained.

We have enough players to play, we are here being consistent. We are not thinking when we do not have some players.

“We have 25 players and every player must feel comfortable to play in the structure that we have."

Emery continued: "The Premier League is 38 matches and that is the most important competition. We are in a good position but today we are very demanding of ourselves to try and play for the three points.

“Our last away win was against Newcastle in January. always difficult to play away. We are motivated, excited, we have clear objectives and we are playing to win.

“Hopefully we keep the position that we are in [at the moment] for the top five positions and not thinking about the Europa League next Thursday."

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

Join our Aston Villa WhatsApp group and get the latest breaking news, interviews and opinion sent straight to your phone, plus matchday team news and live updates of all the action. Just click on this link and select ‘Join Community’ to get started. The only proviso is that you must have WhatsApp on your phone to participate. It's a free service. No one will be able to see your personal information and you will only receive messages from our Villa writers.

We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest Villa news. If you later decide to opt out, just go to the name at the top of your screen and click 'Exit Group'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. Click here to read our Privacy Notice

Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.