Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has confirmed that both Amadou Onana and Ollie Watkins are both available to face Bournemouth this weekend.
Villa will be looking to bounce back after our disappointing defeat at home to Brentford last weekend, but facing the Cherries on the road certainly won’t be straightforward given the quality that they possess.
Emery spoke to the media in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon and confirmed our latest team news, with positive updates on both Onana and Watkins after the pair missed our loss against Brentford through injury.
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However, Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn remain sidelined, with the Frenchman out for the season while the latter duo are still some way off from returning, and there will be no Alysson or Andres Garcia in the matchday squad this Saturday as the pair also miss out due to injury.
Alysson was involved in training on Thursday with the rest of the group and so his recovery is at advanced stage it seems, but the Brazilian winger isn’t quite ready to be involved just yet.
“Yes, normally yes,” Emery said, as per VillaTV.” “He [Watkins] rested last week because he had a small injury and he was not ready to play.
“But this week progressively he was joining us, training normally, and today he trained normally.
“Alysson is coming back progressively and, of course, we have three players in the middle, Kamara, Youri and McGinn out.
“We have a key structure inside with the players we have.
“Now, with Amadou Onana, he was not 100 per cent last week, Lamare Bogarde is always doing his task and helping us a lot but needs to continue getting better.
“Ross Barkley is coming back, it’s very, very important because he know us and he has the skill we need to play as a No.8 or No.10.”
Onana’s presence in particular was missed last weekend as we lacked the physicality, presence and solidity that he provides, while Watkins will add more firepower to either replace Tammy Abraham up front from the start, or if Emery opts to pair them together at some stage.
As for Barkley, he is undoubtedly an intriguing boost for the Villa boss as he provides us with an important solution in midfield as an efficient fit for how we play and our structure, and hopefully all concerned can now stay fit and remain available for the remainder of the campaign, alongside those key individuals who are sidelined currently coming back into the fold.