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BIRMINGHAM. — Steven Gerrard is hopeful of having Marvelous Nakamba back in contention for Wolves after the international break.
The Zimbabwean has been out since early December after rupturing knee ligaments following Aston Villa’s 1-0 defeat by Liverpool in the English Premiership football at Anfield.
Nakamba will partake in group training alongside Villa’s Under-23s this week and could play in an in-house game as he steps up his return after almost four months out.
“I’ve been continuing to speak with the medical team here who tell me how to make my leg stronger and to recover faster and quicker and so on,” Nakamba outlined recently.
“I’m working on being stronger mentally, physically, everything. I try to keep myself positive.
“My team-mates have been there for me from the day I had my surgery, supporting and encouraging me.
“Some of them have been through these injuries.”
Speaking ahead of the Wolves fixture in nine days’ time, Gerrard said of Nakamba: “Marvelous will be in full training for us after the international break, which is positive. He’s not too far away and he’ll do certain sessions with our Under-23 group next week. We’ll integrate him into the first team set-up. That’s good news for us.”
It’s likely that Nakamba will play for Villa’s Under-23s against Stoke City at Villa Park on Friday, April 1 (7pm) with the hope of having the ex-Club Brugge man in the squad for Villa’s match with Spurs a week later.
Elsewhere, Lucas Digne and Kortney Hause are both pushing to be fit and available after the international break after both missing the defeat against Arsenal due to respective hamstring and muscle injuries.
Should Nakamba, Digne and Hause return, it’ll mean Gerrard will have a full squad to choose from for Villa’s remaining games.
The boss will be hoping his international stars remain unscathed with the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Leon Bailey, John McGinn and Matty Cash all in action for their respective countries over the next 10 days.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, Hamilton star Andy Ryan heaped praise on “priceless” Zimbabwean striker David Moyo – then complained about his strike partner’s assist for his opener in the win over Partick Thistle at the weekend.
The duo were a formidable force at Firhill on Saturday as Ryan bagged a brace, while Moyo and fellow forward Andy Winter also got on the scoresheet in a 4-0 thrashing of Thistle.
Moyo’s persistence paid off for the opening goal of the game as he chased down a pass back on the bobbly surface, blocked goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon’s attempted clearance and then won the loose ball to set Ryan up for a tap in.
That broke the deadlock and set the tone for a dominant Accies display.
While Ryan lauded the Zimbabwe international for his display, he still found room to complain about Moyo’s assist.
Ryan, who is up to 11 goals for the season, said: “The three of us up front caused them problems and the backline and midfield behind us were squeezing up. We defended excellently and defended well at the other end.
“But what David brings to the team is priceless.
“He works his socks off, he occupies defenders — but I don’t think I’ll be thanking him for that pass!
“I had to take a touch at that first goal.
“But he’s great and I’m delighted he got on the scoresheet as well.
“David will have his personal targets and I’ve got mine, but I’ll keep mine in-house for now because I don’t want to make an a*** of myself.
“As a striker you always set yourself those personal targets but this was about coming here and getting the three points.
“Straight from the get-go we were right on top of them, we didn’t give them a second.
“We set the tempo for the game and everything clicked.”
The victory has Accies nine points clear of the bottom two sides — Queen of the South and Dunfermline — in seventh place and they now host Queens on Saturday as they look to climb further up the Scottish Championship table.
Stuart Taylor’s side are 10 points off the promotion play-off spots and Ryan added: “It’s six big games that we’ll be looking to win if we can put in performances like that again.” — BirminghamLive.
Online Reporter