Sunday afternoon’s (3 December) Premier League match between Aston Villa and Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium may be Unai Emery’s first since November 2022 without star striker Ollie Watkins.
The Villans want to keep up their strong play after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 last weekend to surge into the top four. If all else goes according to plan, a victory could see Villa move up to the top of the Premier League.
After a dismal start to the season, its rivals, Bournemouth, have managed to resume winning ways under Andoni Iraola. The Cherries are now seven points clear of the relegation zone thanks to victories over Sheffield United and Newcastle United, which gives Emery plenty to think about.
After Robin Olsen was selected to start against Legia Warszawa in the Europa Conference League and made two saves [FotMob], guiding Villa to a crucial victory in Group E, Emi Martinez is probably going to return to the starting lineup.
It’s possible that Matty Cash will stay at right-back. His involvement was called into question in the middle of the week following a disorganised performance against Tottenham, but against a free-flowing Bournemouth team, his 60% ground duels won and 92% pass completion rate will be crucial.
Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa are most likely to start as the center-back partnership because Clement Lenglet is being used in the Europa Conference League, playing 100% of the minutes in the competition, and has not yet made a league start this season.
With his lone on-target effort against Legia Warszawa finding the back of the net, Alex Moreno was able to maintain his spot in the starting lineup ahead of Lucas Digne. This would be his season’s first Premier League appearance.
The nearly unstoppable Douglas Luiz might start in midfield with Youri Tielemans, who has two assists in as many games and generated three opportunities in midweek, since Boubacar Kamara is still serving his ban.
John McGinn may play out wide when Tielemans moves inside, while Nicolo Zaniolo might be given another opportunity to show his mettle following his poor showing against Nottingham Forest last month, where he won just 18% of his ground battles before Emery benched him at halftime.
Emery disclosed the cause of Watkin’s absence, as reported by the Evening Standard on Friday, December 1, stating, “He had small pain yesterday.” Not very powerful. We also chose to give him some rest.
He wasn’t available since we didn’t want to take a chance since he felt something during 50% of the workout. Additionally, we desired to have minutes with Jhon Duran.
The England international might have to settle for a bench spot, as Moussa Diaby and Jhon Duran might keep up their impressive offensive duo starting on Thursday night. Four minutes into the game, the latter scored, but goalie Kacper Tobiasz stopped Duran’s 100% of his shots.
Watkins may be relegated to the bench for the first time since Villa’s opening match of the 2022–23 season if Emery determines that Duran merits greater playing time.
