Emiliano Buendía limps off vs Man City with foot injury; seen on crutches and in a protective boot

Emiliano Buendía was forced off for Aston Villa during their clash with Manchester City after a seemingly innocuous tussle with Matheus Nunes. Post‑match, he appeared on crutches and wearing a protective boot, with limited video angles offering little clarity. The area checked pitchside suggested a midfoot concern, potentially more than a simple knock. From where I’m sitting—as a rival old pro who knows these setbacks—Villa won’t like the feel of this one. Their creative link between the lines could be out for quite a while, and the mood around the fanbase already shows a split between hope and uneasy speculation.

The incident occurred in a Premier League meeting between Aston Villa and Manchester City. After contact in a routine duel, Buendía needed treatment and exited the contest. Following the match, he was observed using crutches and wearing a protective boot, indicating a precautionary response to a foot issue. No formal club timetable had been released at the time, leaving assessments to visual evidence and standard pitchside checks around the affected area.

Emiliano Buendia had to come off for Aston Villa in their clash vs. Man City after suffering a foot injury. Innocuous injury mechanism after a tussle with Matheus Nunes. He was seen with crutches and a boot after the game. Not much via the video, but palpated area brings

@physioscout

Impact Analysis

Let’s be blunt: for Villa, this is a creative blow that punches right through the ribs. Buendía’s best work is in those half-spaces where he stitches together the final pass, manipulates angles, and keeps wide men honest. Lose that, and the structure shifts—slower ball progression, fewer disguised entries, and more predictable patterns. With him compromised, Emery has to lean harder on John McGinn’s carrying, Youri Tielemans in advanced pockets, or shove Morgan Rogers into heavier minutes than planned. Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby can threaten in behind, but without a nimble conduit knitting phases, the supply gets streaky.

From a rival’s perspective, this is the exact kind of absence you circle in red. Villa’s workload—domestic grind plus European commitments—doesn’t pause. Rotation gets thinner, pressing triggers arrive a half-second late, and opponents can squeeze Tielemans and Douglas Luiz knowing there’s one fewer sharp release. Set-piece routines might still bail them out, but sustained control in the middle third becomes a scrap.

And let’s not sugarcoat the psychological bit: seeing a teammate in a boot and crutches sours the dressing room energy, especially when fixtures stack up. Even if scans come back “reassuring,” midfoot issues have a nasty habit of lingering. If I’m Villa’s opponent next week, I’d turn the screw early and often—make them feel the missing connector.

Reaction

The online chatter split fast. Some Villa voices tried to calm the waters, hoping it’s “something very minimal,” while others immediately zeroed in on the dreaded metatarsal shout. You could almost sense the collective wince: a player walks out in a boot and crutches, and fans brace for the worst. Meanwhile, parts of the fanbase drifted into side debates—Ezri Konsa getting crowned among the world’s best center-backs, Pau Torres praised to the rafters, and the usual bickering over which squad players are unfairly scapegoated.

There was also the typical tribal bite: a few digging at early-season critics of Unai Emery, gleefully revisiting old takes after recent upturns. Club-official notes elsewhere about contract news kept spirits from bottoming out, but the tone around Buendía remained uneasy. Some supporters scrutinized the brief clips, convinced the mechanism looked harmless—only to worry that innocuous incidents often hide bigger problems. Others shrugged it off as a precautionary boot.

From a rival lens, the mood is exactly what you expect: a cocktail of denial, cautious optimism, and simmering anxiety. Until scans land, Villa fans will grasp onto the “he walked off” detail; the cynics will point to the boot and crutches and say, “Seen this movie before.”

Social reactions

Poor guy. Hope it is something very minimal

GavSi1814🦁 (@GavSi1814)

I thought maybe his metatarsal?

Darren 🦁 (@_stonyd)

Aston Villa is delighted to announce that Matty Cash has signed a new contract with the club.

Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial)

Prediction

Reading the signs, this smells like a slow burner. If the tenderness is midfoot or along the metatarsals, you’re flirting with scenarios that often outlast optimistic forecasts. Best case, he dodges a fracture and you’re talking weeks; more realistically, this can drift into the multi-month territory if there’s ligament involvement or a stress element. Protective boot plus immediate post‑match support rarely screams “back in a fortnight.”

Expect Villa to talk “day-to-day” until imaging forces specificity. Emery will patch the 10-space with Tielemans or Rogers, skewing more direct to Bailey and Diaby, and asking McGinn to shoulder ball-carrying. That helps in transitions but blunts the subtlety around the box. If the calendar doesn’t relent, watch for minutes spikes and form swings in the supporting cast.

Two pathways: 1) Conservative rehab stretches past the international break and bleeds into a long layoff, essentially resetting his season; 2) scans are kinder, he returns sooner but with managed minutes, risking rhythm issues. As a rival, I’m betting on the first—these foot knocks have a habit of dragging on when workloads stay heavy and pitches get heavier.

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Conclusion

Strip away the polite language and you’re left with this: Villa just lost their glue man, and there’s no neat replacement on the shelf. Even if updates try to cool the room, the visual—the crutches, the boot, the careful palpation—doesn’t lie. Opponents will press the life out of Villa’s build-up and dare the stand-ins to reproduce Buendía’s final-third craft. Some days it’ll click; many days it won’t.

I’ve seen squads ride these storms with grit, but it takes weeks of tinkering and a slice of luck. Meanwhile, rivals won’t wait. If this slides toward a mid-to-long-term absence, Emery’s margin evaporates, rotations thin, and results start to yo-yo. For Villa, the only win here is a medical surprise. For the rest of us, it’s a window to tilt the balance while their conductor sits out—probably longer than they care to admit.