Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says the club will “reprimand” the source of a potential leak after news of Jack Grealish’s injury emerged on social media 24 hours before their loss to Leicester.
Grealish missed the game with a minor leg issue, with Smith confirming his talisman had experienced “some discomfort in training” during the week.
Brendan Rodgers said he prepared his Leicester side to face Grealish but had heard about the doubt over the midfielder’s fitness the day before the game.
Speaking after the 2-1 defeat at Villa Park, Smith said he believed the injury was not a long-term problem and “no recurrence” of a previous injury.
“I’ve been made aware that on social media there’d been rumours that he wasn’t going to play,” Smith said.
News of Grealish’s injury appeared on social media 24 hours before the game
“If it’s coming out of our training ground then I will find out where that’s coming from and reprimand where it’s coming from. It’s something I wouldn’t be happy with and we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Anwar El Ghazi replaced Grealish as goals from James Maddison and Harvey Barnes helped move the Foxes to a third league win in a row.
2:19
On Grealish’s absence, Smith said: “You are always going to miss a top-class player, take Jack Grealish out of any team and you’d miss him but the XI that was out there was good enough to win.
“We created chances, got in good areas, we have players who can score goals.”
