Martin O’Neill brought us an injury update straight from the physio room at Villa Park today and amongst the bulletin came the news that Curtis Davies is likely to need corrective surgery on his shoulder. O’Neill is hinting that this could mean four to five months on the sidelines for the centre-back.

“I assume he’ll probably be needing an operation…Luke Moore was out for four or five months so you are looking at a fairly lengthy period of time for corrective surgery.”

This makes the signing of James Collins and Richard Dunne even more vital for Villa’s chances this season and for fantasy managers, it means that there could be greater potential to be found amongst the pair of new defenders. Collins would be the best option in fantasy terms given that he comes cheaper than Dunne across the games. Sadly, I would say that Dunne is more likely to be given the nod, although we may even see both start, with Cuellar benched. We’ll get a clear indication from O’Neill’s lineup at Birmingham in gameweek 5…

O’Neill also offered us the low-down on both Wilfred Bouma and Stewart Downing. The latter has apparently just come off his crutches, is running and has made good progress. He’ll still face at least a couple of months out however. There’s even better news on Bouma. He could be in contention shortly after the international break with a behind-closed-doors match being arranged for him in the next 10 days. Bouma will of course face stiff competition for the left-back spot with Shorey and Warnock vying for the shirt. That’s something to consider for all those fantasy managers taking a sideways glance at Warnock’s fantasy prospects.