Laursen blow for Villa

11 March 2009 10:04
Aston Villa have been dealt a blow with the news Martin Laursen has suffered a setback in his bid to return to action after a knee problem. The influential Dane had earmarked Villa's game with Manchester United on 5th April as a possible return date but this now looks to be out of the question. Having had a reaction in training which saw his knee swell, Laursen has been urged to take things slowly by manager Martin O'Neill. O'Neill said: "Martin has had a bit of a setback. He was doing fine and then his knee got a bit sore and puffed up a little bit after training. "Hopefully it will only be a three or four-day setback. But any setback at this stage would be a genuine one simply because of Martin's importance to the team. "Maybe his enthusiasm was too strong - he was possibly doing too much, too soon. But we will see. "He may even have been ahead of schedule at one stage - so we just hope it's a minor setback at the moment." Meanwhile, Steve Sidwell and defender Wilfred Bouma are making good progress after hamstring and ankle problems respectively. "Steve was injured before he went out to Dubai (for a five-day training camp) but he is responding. He is not too far away," O'Neill added. "Wilfred has just had the one reserve game but he has done plenty of training now, which is very encouraging. "I am not saying he is ready immediately because he has been out for a long time, but it is great to see him back."

Source: SKY_Sports