Villa injury crisis deepens ahead of Manchester United clash

Aston Villa have been struggling to get a healthy defensive line for weeks now. Philippe Senderos has been injured since the last international break, Nathan Baker is out with mysterious ailments that we don't know anything about, and captain Ron Vlaar is seemingly constantly on the verge of being ready to re-join the team but just injured enough not to. And that's just the centre backs! To that list we can now add Jores Okore, who injured his knee while training with Denmark over the weekend.

The initial report from the Birmingham Mail doesn't make the injury seem too serious, but given that he missed almost all of last season with a ruptured ACL, anything that happens to his knee is worrisome. On the immediate level, Aston Villa will likely be missing Okore for this weekend's trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. An already tough match (Villa have gotten only three points from their last ten premier league matches against United) is now going to be even more difficult.

And if no one else gets healthy, a real question of who to play in the middle of the defense emerges. Ciaran Clark is the last central defender left un-injured, and there isn't a ton of depth behind him now. I'd say that Matthew Lowton could fill in for Okore, but he missed the Swansea with what I assume was an injury so... nope. Whatever happens, unless the injury issue clears up quickly, Tim Sherwood is going to have to get creative with his lineup in a few days.