Aston Villa beat Ajax 4-0 on Thursday evening to progress into the last eight of the Conference League.
It was a relatively easy night for Unai Emery’s side, who took the lead through an Ollie Watkins header midway through the first half.
Second-half strikes from Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby saw the Villans cruise into the next round.
One big negative was an injury sustained by Watkins, which saw the 28-year-old forced off in the second half. Furthermore, Diego Carlos was also forced off during the second half.
After the game, several of Villa’s players were questioned on the fitness of their star striker.
Aston Villa players react to injury concerns
Talking to TNT Sports after the game, John McGinn shared the latest on Watkins and Carlos. He said: “A good night at Villa Park, and I’m delighted with some of the players on the scoresheet.
“I have a bit of a worry about Ollie Watkins and Diego Carlos—we’ll see how they are.”
Emery was also coy on the fitness of the duo after the game.
On Carlos, he told Birmingham World: “Diego Carlos felt a little bit of hamstring. I don’t if it’s a lot or not. Maybe he might not be available for Sunday; we will tomorrow [Friday] check with him.”
Elsewhere, Bailey admitted Watkins’ injury didn’t look good. “It looked really bad when I saw it,” he told TNT. “It was an open wound. I didn’t want him to come off, but Jhon Duran did brilliantly. It was sad to see him come off.”
Nervous wait for Aston Villa
The Villans now face a nervous wait to discover what happened to their star man.
One positive is the collision appeared to be more of an impact injury, which could bode well moving forward. Duran deputised well when he was introduced, but it’s hard to envisage Villa maintaining their Champions League push without Watkins to lead the line.
Next is a Sunday afternoon trip to East London to face West Ham United. David Moyes’ side are coming off an impressive 5-0 win over Freiburg in the Europa League and have been inconsistent since the turn of the year.
Aston Villa have bounced back well this season, and they will have to again on Sunday if they wish to harbour any hope of maintaining their top-four push.
