Unai Emery ready to bring Morgan Sanson in from the cold at Aston Villa

Sanson made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Manchester United and could start tonight’s Carabao Cup third round tie against the same opponent.

The 28-year-old midfielder had been deemed surplus to requirements by Emery’s predecessor Steven Gerrard and would have joined Espanyol on loan last summer but for a paperwork issue.

Yet Sanson, who arrived from Marseille for £13million in January 2021, is known to Emery from his time in charge of Paris St Germain.

He said: “Morgan’s done very well in the days that we have been in the training ground. I think he’s a good player.

“He was injured and out of matches but I think he can help us. On Sunday, for example in the last minute, he kept the position he usually plays and his skills were good to help us.”

Emery has confirmed he will make changes for his second match at the helm. One of those will be enforced, with Leander Dendoncker having already featured in the competition this season for Wolves.

John McGinn, Danny Ings, Ludwig Augustinsson are among those vying for a starting place, while Boubacar Kamara will be assessed to see if he is ready to start having made his return from injury as a substitute on Sunday.

Villa are yet to win away from home this season and Emery said: “Our challenge is to have the same performance we played at home and to play away.

“My idea is to create, to build a team with the same style. I will change some players but it’ll be the same idea to play and to achieve our performance.

“Our challenge is to keep the same performances like Sunday and into the next match. If we will do it, I think we will have taken another step forward.”