Aston Villa dealt Alan Hutton injury blow
Villa have been dealt another injury blow after Alan Hutton was forced off early in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Stoke with a knee problem.
The Scot left the Bet365 Stadium on crutches and will see a consultant on Sunday to determine the extent of the damage.
Hutton left the game after just five minutes, with Stoke opening the scoring through Sam Vokes while he was receiving treatment off the field.
Boss Dean Smith said: “It’s a knee injury and it doesn’t look good at the moment.
“We will have to get the consultants to look at it tomorrow because he felt something in there.
“We can’t say how bad it is yet. It’s a big loss but football is a contact sport and these things happen.”
Hutton, captaining the side in place of the injured James Chester, joins a lengthy injury list which also includes Jack Grealish, Tom Carroll, Henri Lansbury, Axel Tuanzebe and Orjan Nyland.
Smith also opted to make a change in goal for Saturday’s game, with Jed Steer replacing Lovre Kalinic after the latter had spent the week in concussion protocol.
He explained: “Lovre hasn’t trained all week because of the concussion protocol.
“I thought it was too much to throw him straight back in.
“Jed has been playing well and pushing him so that was the main reason.”
