Aston Villa FC

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O'Neill hopeful on injured duo

17 Nov 2009 - 15:25:56

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Martin O'Neill expects both James Collins and Emile Heskey to be fit enough to be available for selection this weekend when Aston Villa visit Burnley.

They missed the 5-1 victory against Bolton Wanderers with a groin strain and back problem respectively and did not team up with their international colleagues at the weekend.

Collins was left out of the Wales team which beat Scotland 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium while Heskey did not travel to Qatar for England's friendly defeat against Brazil.

O'Neill is pleased with the way both players' injuries have responded to treatment, saying: "The medical staff are quite happy with the progress they're making.

"They still have quite a number of days before we're back in action.

"Luke Young has had to wait because in his absence we weren't sure how long he'd be out for.

"We tried to get people with a bit of experience in and that's exactly what happened.

"Habib Beye came in and then Luke, of course, had the death of his brother to contend with. All I'll say is that Habib had done very little wrong to lose his place.

"Those who came in settled in the team very well. The back four were doing particularly well as a unit and I didn't see any reason to change it."