Lee Carsley will be without Villa striker Ollie Watkins for the upcoming England games during the international break. The 28-year-old has withdrawn from matches against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, along with Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.
Watkins, yet to score in any of Villa’s three opening fixtures, turned heads after a last-gasp winner against Holland in the Euro 2024 semi-final. That came after scoring 19 times and contributing 13 assists during last season’s Premier League campaign, which played a huge part in Villa qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in 41 years.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhilst Watkins has a fortnight to recover from the unspecified injury, it’s certainly an injury worry to keep an eye on. After the sale of Cameron Archer, Villa are left with few other out-and-out attacking options. Jhon Duran has impressed with goalscoring cameos from off the bench, but must still be regarded as an enigma. After courting West Ham throughout the summer in order to gain regular first-team football, Duran might find himself in the starting XI at VP sooner than he thought.
EMI BUENDIA STRIKES TWICE
Embed from Getty ImagesVilla travelled to Fleetwood Town in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy this evening.
The team featured a raft of Under-21 players from Villa’s academy, along with Emi Buendia, Ross Barkley and Jacob Ramsey.
Buendia, who is at the end of a long recovery from an ACL injury sustained in pre-season 2023, looked sharp and scored two deserved goals. The Argentine creative midfielder showed his class, volleying in a Barkley cross first time to give Villa the lead. He followed this up with a tap-in before the break. It was a good run out and important game time after such a long layoff. Hopefully we will see Buendia pressing for a recall to the first eleven soon.
Buendia had given Villa a decent advantage, but the game turned on it’s head in a few short minutes. Fleetwood clawed themselves back into the encounter after half-time, but Villa found a third and ran out comfortable winners.
The eagle-eyed will have also noted promising youngster Lamare Bogarde in Villa’s side, but rumours that Tyrone Mings might have made a return to action turned out to be unfounded.
The Bristol Street Motors Trophy is a midweek knockout cup competition which includes clubs from EFL League One and League Two, plus an additional 16 invited sides from Premier League and EFL Championship clubs with Category One Academies.