Newcastle United Champions League rivals hit by huge injury blow

Aston Villa could be without Marcus Rashford for vital Premier League games after manager Unai Emery confirmed the on-loan Manchester United star faces several weeks on the sidelines through injury. The forward missed Saturday's 3-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Crystal Palace, and is set to be ruled out for some huge games in the battle for a Champions League place. Villa are currently challenging Newcastle , Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea for a place in the top five, but saw their rivals take a big step ahead this weekend.

Newcastle moved third in the table with a comfortable 3-0 home win over Ipswich Town, while Chelsea had a 1-0 victory against Everton. Man City play Forest in today's FA Cup semi-final, but had beaten Villa last week to open up a signficant gap, while Forest face Brentford on Thursday. While the race remains tight, losing Rashford will come as a big blow to Emery, although he can turn to the likes of Marco Asensio, OIllie Watkins and Donyell Malen as they look to qualify for the Chamnpions League,.



He is injured," the Villa boss said following the defeat to Palace. "He got injured this week. It is his hamstring.

We are going to test him each match to see how he is progressing. Probably some weeks that he can be not available." Villa host European hopefuls Fulham on Saturday, May 3, followed by a trip to Bournemouth, a home clash with Tottenham and final day showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford, which Rashford will miss as he is not able to play against his parent club.

Goals from Eberichi Eze and Ismaila Sarr (2) ended their FA Cup hopes, but Emery sent a defiant message ahead of the run-in. "I'm sorry for our supporters," he said. "We have to change again our objective because the Premier League is our priority.

Through it we can again play in Europe next year. We lost a possibility to get one trophy in the Champions League and again today, but we have to keep going. Only one team is winning and to play in Europe consistently is the next objective and the priority when I arrived here.

"This is the message I send always to the supporters: to be consistent in Europe, to try to play for a trophy - we did this year and last year we did as well in the Conference League.".