Keinan Davis was pictured training with the Aston Villa first-team ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Nottingham Forest, putting Mark Bunn through his paces, and will be hoping he can keep his place in the matchday squad after being on the bench against Birmingham City.
The 21-year-old returned from injury over the weekend but was an unused substitute in Sunday’s 1-0 win at St Andrews. With stiff competition from Jonathan Kodjia and Andre Green, Davis has a challenge to keep his place in the team over the coming months.
Dean Smith is unlikely to start the young forward, but his bench should be made up of Lovre Kalinic, Mile Jedinak, Birkir Bjarnason, John McGinn, Green, Kodjia and Davis as the seventh player as the Villa squad is decimated by injury.
The England u20 international has been ignored for much of the season, making only one appearance in the FA Cup and spending the majority of the campaign out of the matchday squad, but he has a slim chance of getting minutes as Kodjia has been out-of-favour and overlooked by Smith.
Davis may have a decision to make over the summer, however, as he’s not getting the playing time he needs to develop. He could follow in the footsteps of Scott Hogan and seek a loan move away from Villa Park, but his task this season is to squeeze as many minutes as he can.
Crippy Cooke’s previous article
Aston Villa man returns to training ahead of Nottingham Forest clash
