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Despite the fact that the "easy" part of Aston Villa's schedule is coming up, fans won't be able to relax quite yet, as numerous injuries and bugs are still plaguing the team ahead of Saturday's match against Cardiff City. The big news that everyone on twitter was talking about was the fact that Andi Weimann will likely not play on Saturday thanks to the tweaked hamstring he suffered in the draw against West Ham last weekend. Given the Austrian's form lately, I'd say it might not be a bad idea to give him a rest anyhow, but his absence almost guarantees the presence of one or both of Libor Kozak and Aleksandar Tonev in the lineup on Saturday, as Gabby Agbonlahor will also miss the match. Agbonlahor is still trying to cope with an ankle injury, and will miss his second weekend in a row.
But for my money, the big story here is the fact that Fabian Delph has still not been ruled ready to play. Apparently whatever bug was giving him trouble last week has been lingering, preventing him from being penciled into Paul Lambert's starting XI on Saturday. He's not certainly out, either, though. Lambert said that he will wait until tomorrow to make a decision on the player who has been Aston Villa's brightest spot this season.
Elsewhere, Antonio Luna and Joe Bennett will also miss the match on Saturday with the same injuries that kept them out last weekend. It's going to be tough for Lambert to cobble together a starting XI that will be anything near first choice, and I think we're all going to have to hope that Christian Benteke can pull a rabbit out of a hat, create something from nothing, and end the goalless drought that Villa are in.
Jack will have a look at how Lambert might line up the squad tomorrow, so be sure to check back!