Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has allayed fears over Ollie Watkins after he appeared to pick up an injury in our win over Young Boys.
The Villa talisman has already been struggling to start the season with niggles, as he conceded at the weekend after our win over Everton that he still isn’t 100 percent.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Young Boys: Influential trio excellent in impressive win
It comes after he missed our entire pre-season schedule, while he withdrew from England duty during the recent international break as he continues to recover and work towards getting back to full fitness and perfect health.
Having been replaced on the hour mark once again on Tuesday night, the 28-year-old was then seen with ice wrapped around his ankle and Achilles area, and so that in turn would have sparked concern for many that he had picked up another problem, having previously revealed that a knee issue was bothering him from the summer.
Fortunately, Emery allayed those fears as he insisted that the Villa striker is ok, but time will tell if he’s deemed healthy enough to feature this weekend when we host Wolves in the Premier League, or if he’s rested in favour of Jhon Duran.
“He’s okay,” he told TNT Sports, as per the video below. “Now, as well, we have Jhon Duran in good form. They can play together, today he [Watkins] played 60 minutes more or less. We will need both, together or individually, adding his capacity on the pitch.”
“He’s working well, he played well and I decided to change him like another player,” he added, according to BirminghamLive.
After his brace this past weekend, Watkins looked sharp in our 3-0 win over Young Boys, showing an improved first touch and effectively leading the line and linking our play together.
He was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet as he saw an effort ruled out for a handball earlier in the lead up to his effort, and so he has ironically started to look better this past week despite still being troubled by these knocks.
The expectation is that he’ll be left out and rested for our Carabao Cup clash with Wycombe Wanderers next week, and so that will give him time to recover after the Wolves showdown this Saturday. In turn, it’s hoped he’s in good enough shape to feature and play a prominent role in keeping our promising start to the campaign going.
“This victory is for Gary Shaw” 🙏
Unai Emery dedicates Aston Villa’s impressive win in Europe to the club’s former European Cup winning side 🙌
🎙️ @J_Dyer_Official pic.twitter.com/8tvfYOstDf
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 17, 2024
