Jhon Duran was once again the Aston Villa hero as Unai Emery’s side came from two goals behind to beat Everton 3-2 at Villa Park on Saturday.
Aston Villa welcoming bottom of the table Everton to Villa Park was expected to result in a relatively straight forward win for Unai Emery and his players.
However, this was far from the case as a Villa squad who perhaps had an eye on the start of their Champions League campaign against Young Boys on Tuesday were left stunned by goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Ollie Watkins helped salvage the situation with his first two goals of the season getting Villa level after Ross Barkley’s half-time introduction made a real difference.
When Villa have needed a winner this season Emery has turned to one man, though, and Jhon Duran again supplied the goods with a stunning strike in the 76th-minute to complete the comeback.
- READ MORE: Video footage emerges of Amadou Onana’s reaction to Jhon Duran’s incredible Aston Villa goal
Alan Shearer loved Jhon Duran’s Aston Villa winner against Everton
That goal was Duran’s thirds winner off the bench already this season in four games, meaning he has already scored more winners off the bench in a single season than any other player in Premier League history.
A quite remarkable achievement, this was the first time this campaign that Emery has played Duran alongside Watkins rather than replacing one with the other and it was a decision that paid off.
Duran’s strike was simply stunning, firing into the top corner from all of 30 yards past a helpless Jordan Pickford.
Alan Shearer was on punditry duty on Match of the Day on Saturday night and the Premier League all-time record goalscorer was left in disbelief by Duran’s screamer, saying: “The way he cuts it, you can see the bend on it from the angle from behind. What a strike that is! Unbelievable.”
How can Unai Emery keep Duran and Ollie Watkins happy at Aston Villa?
Despite making hard work of beating Everton, the fact that Watkins scored a brace after a difficult start to the season and Duran again scored off the bench made it a really positive evening for Villa.
The way things panned out vindicated Emery’s decision not to replace Watkins in the starting XI, but Duran has confidence coursing through his veins and will not be happy to sit on the bench for too much longer.
This gives Emery a problem, but the Villa boss showed he is not against using both strikers together as he did from the 69th-minute on Saturday with positive results.
Emery will want to start the Champions League strongly but Villa will have much tougher opponents than Young Boys over their eight games in the initial league phase and perhaps this could give him the chance to unleash Duran from the start.
