Aston Villa have suffered an injury setback heading into their final two Premier League matches of the season.

Defender Ezri Konsa was injured during a tussle with Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta during the 1-1 draw which impacts Villa's chances of securing a top-half finish this season.

Steven Gerrard will be gutted and he spoke after the match about the injury: “We're concerned about Ezri, normally, someone like him wouldn't come off the pitch unless there was a problem,” said the Villa manager.

He added: “We’ll send him for an MRI scan, I’ll be extremely surprised if he plays again this season.”

Bad news for the club, who arguably need all their key players fit and firing to secure that top half finish the manager desperately wants.

Gerrard has played Konsa alongside Tyrone Mings at the heart of the Villa defence since arriving from Rangers in mid-November, however, it is no secret the manager is looking to add some defenders to the squad next season.

Konsa only has an average WhoScored rating of 6.43 this season, ranking him a lowly 18th in the Villa squad. Although he does win on average, two aerial duels per match, placing him fourth on the list whilst also completing 86.4% of his passes, ranking him at seventh.

With that in mind, losing him for the final few weeks of the campaign is likely to represent a significant blow to the manager.

After all, the ex Gers boss said of him earlier this season, saying: "He’s been outstanding for me, obviously the red card [against Leeds] was frustrating for him and us because he is an important players."

Having been at the club since 2019, the 24-year-old has shown brief glimpses of his potential, although it looks like this may not be enough to convince Gerrard to stick with him next season with the player linked away. An exit, however, would be a surprise given the praise from the Liverpudlian previously.

Hopefully, the injury isn’t as bad as first feared and Konsa can have a solid pre-season ahead of what could be the side's most important season in years.

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