Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert suggests Christian Benteke could return to the fold earlier than initially expected.
The star Belgian striker sustained a hip injury in the weekend's 1-0 win at Norwich City and is set to spend about six weeks on the sidelines.
However, Lambert indicated that the former Genk man was doing well in his recovery and could be back quicker than first thought.
"He is doing great. I think he will be back quicker. We'll have to wait and see," Lambert told reporters.
"We've two games before the international break, which has probably come at the right time for him and for us.
"The worst scenario was he was going to be out for a considerable period of time, but the way he is progressing, everybody is pretty happy with him."
Lambert added of the 22-year old: "He played a lot of games with Genk before he joined us, so he never really had that much of a break.
"The amount of games he's had here, and playing for the national team, never gave him that breathing space.
"He never mentioned he was fatigued or anything, he just kept on going. It's the first time he's been injured since I've been here, but hopefully, as I've said, it's not too bad."
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