Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece has dropped a ‘positive’ update regarding Bertrand Traore ahead of this afternoon’s meeting with Watford.

The Lowdown: Traore’s absence

Traore has started just one Premier League game all season due to injury and recently returned to the Midlands from the Africa Cup of Nations with a fresh issue.

The 26-year-old helped Burkina Faso to the semi-finals of the tournament, playing 437 minutes of action in five fixtures.

However, he wasn’t able to feature in the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle last weekend due to a hamstring issue, which left Steven Gerrard ‘frustrated’.

The Latest: Positive news on Traore

Preece dropped an update on Traore’s condition via Twitter on Thursday afternoon, labelling it as ‘positive’ news.

He revealed that the winger is hopeful of being available against Brighton next weekend, with his hamstring injury not as bad as first feared.

The Verdict: Good news

Gerrard may well ring the changes for this afternoon’s clash with Watford following the poor display at St James’ Park, and having Traore back next weekend can only be more good news.

The 26-year-old has played only 97 minutes of football under his current boss, so he will give the Villa manager another option out wide, with options fairly limited after Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet left on loan earlier in the year.

Hopefully he will stay injury-free between now and the end of the season and start to replicate his impressive 2020/21 form under Gerrard.

In other news: NSWE set to lose 'terrible' Villa player in summer; Preece and Evans have slammed him this month