Do Villa have the legs to end their 30-year trophy drought?

An injury crisis and a returning hero. Aston Villa's season continues to take sharp turns.

Douglas Luiz's arrival from Juventus solves one problem after Boubacar Kamara was ruled out for the season and John McGinn and Youri Tielemans were also sidelined.

Their absences come at a crucial stage of the season with Villa third in the Premier League, into the FA Cup fourth round and with the chance to top the Europa League group phase on Thursday night, when they host Red Bull Salzburg.

If Villa reach the finals of the Europa League and FA Cup they will play 61 games this season - so has Unai Emery got a squad deep enough to succeed and win Villa's first major trophy since 1996?

Villa's midfield has been ravaged, with Kamara out following knee surgery last week.

His injury record was a consideration when Villa signed him from Marseille in 2022 but few would have expected two extended spells out in three and a half years. He previously missed eight months in 2024.

Captain McGinn could miss up to nine games with his own knee problem while Tielemans may not return until April after an ankle injury against Newcastle on Sunday.

Villa were targeting Conor Gallagher before their injury issues, only for him to pick Tottenham after months of Villa negotiations.

Luiz has returned to plug a gap, with the midfielder - who had been on loan at Nottingham Forest - coming back to the club which sold him to Juventus 18 months ago.

The Brazil international has already missed 12 games for Forest this season through injuries.

Of those available to Emery, Amadou Onana has missed 16 games with injuries this season, including a hamstring issue which kept him out for six weeks, but the former Everton man is now of vital importance.

Ross Barkley has been missing since the start of December with a knee problem, missing 13 games. Despite the 32-year-old's lack of action, Villa want to keep him as they need his experience, having rejected a loan enquiry from Sheffield United this month.

The return of Leon Bailey from Roma will give Emery an option but the winger suffered three hamstring injuries while on loan in Italy.

The fact Villa had to sell Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle for profit and sustainability reasons also meant Emery lost a key midfielder.

Yet, despite their problems and his appearance on the bench on Sunday, Harvey Elliott is not in Emery's long-term plans. Villa will not pay to turn the Liverpool loanee's move permanent and he has not played since October.

"Yes, of course," said Emery when asked on Wednesday if he had enough depth to compete.

"It's time to improve, time to get as strong as possible with the players we will need and to compete in different competitions.

"We want to try to get better in the second part of the season, to compete in the Europa League, to compete in Premier League and to compete in FA Cup.

"Hopefully we can compete in those competitions as a protagonist as well. Our priority is clear, the Premier League."

It all means Emery has to manage his squad to ensure they avoid burnout, with Villa looking to end their 30-year trophy drought.

Overall, Villa's players have covered a total of 2488.1km this season, the second lowest in the Premier League behind Chelsea's 2452.2km.

In comparison, Manchester City have covered the most ground with 2650.9km.

Villa do not press much either, with just Wolves, West Ham and Fulham recording less pressing sequences than Villa's 234 in the Premier League this season.

They are 14th for high turnovers but have scored four times when doing so, only behind Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Villa are ranked 13th for sprints with 3064, and 10th for passes per defensive action [PPDA] with 12.2, which measures the intensity of a team's high press. A lower PPDA reflects a more intense press.

In terms of individuals, Morgan Rogers covered the most distance in a single game for Villa this season when he clocked 12.7km in Sunday's win at Newcastle.

It suggests the England international shows no signs of slowing down having played the most Premier League minutes for Villa this term.

He has played 2,050 minutes out of a possible 2,070 and covered 249.7km, just over 30km more than his nearest team-mate, Matty Cash.

The injured McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans have covered 178.5km, 165.2km and 156.0km respectively [the fifth, sixth and seventh highest in the squad] meaning Villa have not just lost experience but valuable energy.

So how do clubs like Villa manage their players in the second half of the season?

They have used 26 players in the league this season, six more than Everton's 20-man low, as Emery squeezes everything out of his squad.

With player welfare and workload under an increasing spotlight clubs plan meticulously, with former head of medical at Manchester City Jamie Murphy detailing it is a crucial stage for fitness.

The former New York Red Bulls performance director told BBC Sport: "When you're in a position like Aston Villa, their data in between games, their training, it's not just going to be reduced.

"It's almost like you've got to rewrite the whole programme, especially if you've got four or five of your squad injured.

"The ones who are starting, they really won't be doing much training at all at this stage of the season.

"It will be recovery, regeneration, a lot of tactical sessions, walk throughs, on the pitch, off the pitch, video analysis, position specific drills.

"It's when they start getting a few miles in the legs and they're starting to take those little injuries into a period of congested fixtures.

"That's when you have to be very careful and making sure everything you've done in pre-season, all your screening and all your injury prevention strategies are in place.

"You're looking at total distance they've run, high speed running distances, sprint counts, acceleration, decelerations - all these have a big impact on their muscular system."