Aston Villa boss Unai Emery spoke to the media on Friday, and delivered our latest team news ahead of our Premier League season opener against West Ham Utd.
After a memorable campaign last year, Villa will be hoping to make a positive start to the new season with Emery continuing to integrate new players into his side.
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After a productive pre-season, it’s hoped that we’ll have as close to a fully-fit squad as possible this weekend, with the likes of Emiliano Buendia and Jacob Ramsey returning from long injury layoffs, while Emiliano Martinez and Ezri Konsa returned in our final game of the summer after an extended break following their international football exploits.
The main question mark was over Ollie Watkins though, as although our talismanic frontman continued to train with the group this week, he didn’t get any minutes in pre-season, thus creating doubt over his involvement this weekend.
However, as per Emery, our top goalscorer last season will be in the matchday squad, but it remains unclear at this stage if he’ll be ready to start or if he’ll be limited to the bench and gradually come back into the side.
“He is in the squad but I don’t know exactly if he is going to play from the beginning, or if he is going to play some minutes,” Emery told the media at his pre-match press conference. “I will meet him today or tomorrow morning and after my talk with him I will decide if he is going to play.
“We have two now. Cameron Archer is not with us tomorrow because he is leaving, but we have two with Watkins and Jhon Duran. He didn’t play last week after starting working with us two weeks ago but now he is with us. We have two players and we have to decide because we played the last few matches with Morgan Rogers as a striker.
“My idea is to try and set as a striker in case they are not available tomorrow, Watkins or Jhon Duran.”
It’s an important decision as given the influence and decisive impact that Watkins is capable of having, we’re certainly a better side with him leading the line, but that must be balanced with not rushing him back and risking an injury given his lack of playing time. That jump from training to the intensity and tempo of a Premier League clash does raise that risk.
However, if the coaching and medical staff are all convinced that he’s ready to feature, it’s hoped he gets the nod, as with Jhon Duran in a similar position, it’s unlikely that he’ll start and fill that void, with Morgan Rogers noted as the other potential solution.
While the 22-year-old has the quality and versatility to play that role, it’s clearly not his most natural or effective position, and so having him play behind a striker would be ideal, but we’ll face an anxious wait to see if that is the case or if Emery will bring Watkins back into the fold off the bench and build his minutes steadily to start the new campaign.
Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings remain sidelined, while time will tell if Diego Carlos is included in the squad after his absence in our final few pre-season outings earlier this month.