Unai Emery will be hoping a corner has been turned with his Aston Villa side.
Given the high-quality Champions League games on the calendar and the rigours of the Premier League, it isn’t easy dealing and balancing the two.
That’s why Aston Villa went on an eight-game winless run and were in a real slump, before turning things around during this past week.
Last Wednesday night, Villa beat Brentford on home soil and then backed it up by seeing off Southampton, with Jhon Duran scoring the only goal of the game.
It just changes the morale around the place and allows the players to breathe easy as they prepare for another gruelling week.
It starts with Aston Villa’s away clash at RB Leipzig on Tuesday night and the chance for Emery to push his team into the top eight of the Champions League.
Against the Saints – and the same for the Brentford match – changes were made to the XI and Tim Sherwood thinks that will continue for the trip to Germany.
Tim Sherwood says Unai Emery will drop Jhon Duran for Ollie Watkins against RB Leipzig
Even though RB Leipzig are a Pot 1 team, they have managed to lose every game so far, including leading 2-1 against Juventus, the opposition going down to ten men, yet it was the Italian side who came out as the winners
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Clearly, there are issues there, but Villa still can’t underestimate them and have to play their strongest possible XI.
Even though Duran has added to his goals tally again, Sherwood still feels that the Colombian star will be dropped for the Leipzig match.
He also added that the Villa boss just doesn’t fancy the idea of playing Watkins and Duran together, as he told Sky Sports News (07/12/24 at 2:50 pm).
“You are probably right, he fancies one up front,” said Sherwood. “That’s how he wants to go. To be fair, Duran has had his chance to play. I think they could both play.
“He will score goals, and then in the next game, he is on the bench again. Whatever happens, he is playing Watkins. He is playing Watkins against Leipzig.”
Jhon Duran and Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa during the Premier League match between Aston Villa FC and AFC Bournemouth at Villa Park on October 26...
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Watkins is the ‘main man’ for Aston Villa, not Duran
Aston Villa are blessed to have two high-quality strikers at their disposal – the senior figure Watkins and the upcoming star, Duran.
But despite the noise of the latter wanting to leave during the summer transfer window, he stayed put, signed a new contract and has contributed to Villa winning some valuable points.
And Sherwood feels that Duran will have to wait longer because Watkins is still the ‘main man’ at the club.
“When he (Duran) has started games, and not in the Premier League, but in the cup competitions, he hasn’t done it,” claimed Sherwood, despite Duran scoring in his last three starts.
“Sometimes, certainly, the attacking players, if they come off the bench with 20 minutes left of the game, they are chasing the game, they are throwing bodies forward and the other team is tired. You can perform. It’s harder to perform from the start.
“The kid will be banging the door down saying ‘when I am going to start’. He obviously feels he doesn’t need to play two up top and Ollie is his main man. He will continue to be the main man and the boy has to keep himself right. When he comes off the bench, fantastic attitude. He rolls his sleeves up and wants to do the job. I wouldn’t like to say how close he was to leaving the football club in the summer, but it’s a good job they kept him because he has been valuable for them.”
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