Aston Villa's Leon Bailey assessed ahead of Wolves trip
Villa will assess Leon Bailey ahead of tomorrow’s derby at Wolves following the winger’s return from international duty.
Bailey was due back at Bodymoor Heath today, the final member of Steven Gerrard’s squad to return having helped Jamaica complete their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win over Honduras in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The £25million summer signing scored his first goal since September when he netted a 37th-minute penalty, before completing 90 minutes for only the second time in four months.
Bailey, whose Villa career to date has been blighted by injury, is eager to make his mark over the closing weeks of the season but the tight turnaround means he is again likely to be on the bench at Molineux.
The key decision facing Gerrard, who like Wolves boss Bruno Lage has been without the majority of his players for the past fortnight, is whether to again field Emi Buendia and Philippe Coutinho in the same XI or revert to a strike pairing of Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins.
Villa’s boss has been adamant record signing Buendia and January capture Coutinho can flourish alongside each other but results so far suggest otherwise, with the team taking just four points from five matches they have both started.
