Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that Ollie Watkins is a doubt to face Bournemouth in our Premier League encounter on Sunday.
The 27-year-old missed our win over Legia Warszawa in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, with Emery noting before and after the game that the England international had felt a “small pain” in training on Wednesday.
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While the Villa boss appeared to play down the seriousness of the issue and hinted that it was more so a precautionary move to leave Watkins out, there was still concern over whether or not he would miss out this weekend too.
Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Emery confirmed that Watkins is indeed a doubt to feature, but he will wait to assess him on Saturday before making a final decision on his fitness.
“He’s going to be a doubt for Sunday,” he said, as per VillaTV. “We are adding other players, like Jhon Duran, Zaniolo and Jacob Ramsey, who is getting more minutes.
“He’s not completely unavailable for Sunday. We are going to wait for tomorrow and see if we can take a risk with him or not.
“We will see how he feels about facing the demands in 90 minutes we are going to face on Sunday.”
Watkins has been hugely influential so far this season, scoring 12 goals and providing seven assists in 20 appearances, and so his absence would undoubtedly be a big blow for Villa.
Nevertheless, it’s still hoped that he will pass his fitness test and feature, but if not, Jhon Duran could get a rare opportunity to start in the Premier League and show what he can provide for us when leading the line.
The Colombian international will offer more of a target man option up top with his physicality and height, while Emery could possibly look to the likes of Moussa Diaby and Nicolo Zaniolo instead to give us a different type of dynamic.
First off though, we’ll wait to see if Watkins makes the trip or not, as it’s certainly hoped that he can return and continue to play a pivotal role in our excellent campaign thus far.
It’s good news across the board elsewhere though, with Alex Moreno making his comeback in midweek, while Jacob Ramsey gained more minutes too as he continues to improve his fitness.