Watch Aston Villa vs West Ham on Monday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 8pm
Friday 13 September 2019 16:09, UK
Aston Villa's Jonathan Kodjia fractured his cheekbone in a training-ground collision with a team-mate and will be out for "two or three weeks", says Dean Smith.
The Ivory Coast international collided with Marvelous Nakamba during practice, and though initially there were no concerns for him, further scans revealed the true extent of the damage.
"The only one who's now injured is Jonathan Kodjia, he's fractured a cheekbone in a training-ground injury," Smith said at Friday's press conference. "He just clashed heads with Marvelous Nakamba in a non-competitive part of training.
"We thought it was ok but they've picked up a fracture at the hospital so he's had an operation on that now and will be out for the next two or three weeks."
Smith said Villa will consider a face mask for Kodjia: "He'll be back non-contact and then we'll have to see how it goes. I think we've seen a lot of these injuries where the masks are worn; we'll certainly be looking at that longer down the line."
I think they can score a lot but concede a lot as well - I'm guessing I know what they'll have been working on during the international period
Villa take on West Ham on Monday Night Football, and Smith has called on the fans to provide plenty of atmosphere for the visit of Manuel Pellegrini's side.
"The last game at Villa Park it was absolutely rocking," said Smith. "I said after the Bournemouth game that was our best performance and we ended up not getting anything from the game when we probably deserved to.
"Everton was a tougher game but we managed to get that win and we had the place rocking so we need to do that again under the floodlights on Monday."
Smith is expecting West Ham to trouble Aston Villa in attack - in particular new signing Sebastien Haller - but says the Hammers will have been working hard on their defence after conceding seven goals in their first four Premier League games.
"They are certainly a threat going forward," said the 48-year-old. "I watched their game against Watford the other day and it was end to end - it could have been 5-5.
"If you look at the expected-goals table they'll be at the top for entertainment. I think they can score a lot but concede a lot as well - I'm guessing I know what they'll have been working on during the international period.
"In signing Haller up front he looks a really good centre forward. They paid a lot of money for him but he's got a couple of good goals already and looks a handful."
Haller, who West Ham bought from Frankfurt for £45m, has been compared to Villa's new striker Wesley who was purchased for £22m.
"Financially there's a lot of money between the two of them," said Smith. "They're both top players who deserve to be playing in the Premier League.
"There's going to be people who will put comparisons but we've told Wes just concentrate on his own game. Concentrate on what he's doing and go and get another performance like he did against Everton.
"They've got a lot of similarities. When I watched a lot of Wes, he created a lot of goals as well as scored them. That was a big part of his game that I liked and attracted me to him. I think that's probably one of the biggest differences."
Watch Aston Villa vs West Ham on Monday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 8pm
