Unai Emery has a major problem with Ollie Watkins ahead of Aston Villa’s clash against West Ham United.
Ollie Watkins produced a remarkable campaign for Aston Villa last term, with the 28-year-old recording 32 contributions in all competitions, including 19 goals in the Premier League.
The Englishman was also Unai Emery’s chief creator with 13 assists, the most of any player across Europe’s top five leagues.
Everyone knows the influence that Watkins has on this side, as since the Spaniard arrived at Villa Park almost two years ago, only Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland have scored more Premier League goals than the Villa marksman.
Watkins has been relentless in his pursuit of greatness and this summer, he scored the goal that sent England into the Euro 2024 final.
Like many of his other teammates who were on international duty, the former Brentford man was granted extended leave, returning to training only a few weeks ago.
Why Unai Emery will be worried about Ollie Watkins ahead of West Ham
For club and country in the 2023/24 campaign, Watkins totalled over 60 games in all competitions, starting with a 5-1 defeat against Newcastle United in August and ending in last month’s Euro 2024 final.
It will have been a taxing season mentally and physically for the Englishman, with such a relentless fixture schedule taking its toll.
Watkins, as mentioned, returned to training a couple of weeks ago however, he hasn’t featured for a single minute across pre-season and that could be a concern to Emery.
In an ideal world, the Spaniard would have given him minutes in the 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund but decided to not risk his most important player.
It means, unlike most of his Villa teammates, Watkins could take a few matches to get up to speed, although a player of his quality perhaps doesn’t need pre-season games to recapture his best form.
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Emery’s key Watkins decision vs West Ham
In normal circumstances, Watkins – alongside Emi Martinez – are the first names on the Villa team sheet.
But, since he’s not featured in any pre-season matches, people are now questioning whether he’ll leave his talisman on the bench against West Ham and bring him on in the second half.
It’s certainly a possibility that Emery could explore, perhaps starting one of Morgan Rogers or Cameron Archer up front instead.
However, Aston Villa will want to make a fast start to the campaign and although he’s not played at all for the club since May, you couldn’t argue against throwing him straight into the starting XI.
If there was ever a player who could start their season with a bang by scoring – despite not playing any pre-season minutes – it’s Watkins.
That will perhaps enter Emery’s thinking when he’s selecting his starting XI for the match.
