Unai Emery's selection headache ahead of huge week for Aston Villa

Aston Villa have had a strong start to the season sitting fifth in the Premier League table after winning three of their opening four matches. The 3-2 comeback victory over Everton on Saturday showed the fans that not only do they have a great team but this Villa team also has the character to get back up again when they've been knocked down. This week marks a historic week for the club as they play their first UEFA Champions League match (in the modern era) before a local derby against Wolves on Saturday, and Villa boss Unai Emery will have important selection decisions to make.

The big dilemma staring Emery in the face

Jhon Duran's wondergoal on Saturday ensured Villa completed a miraculous comeback to overcome Everton at Villa Park on Saturday. His goal meant that it is three times already that the young Colombian had come off the bench to score the winning goal for the team, winning 9 points for Villa already this season. The 20-year-old is in excellent form and his winning goals against West Ham, Leicester and Everton mean that he sits second in the Premier League's top goal-scorer chart behind Manchester City's Erling Haaland.

Averaging a goal every 65 minutes in the Premier League for Aston Villa since his arrival in January 2023, only one player in the history of the English top flight has a better goal-per-minute ratio (Haaland). For a young player with such talent and such a brilliant goalscoring record, it is surely impossible to not give him more opportunities to start matches. Duran has started just 10 of his 53 matches for the club across all competitions and his impressive match-winning form at the start of this season will mean he is pushing to start much more often.

The dilemma therefore for Emery is does he start Duran more often as the leading forward in place of England international Ollie Watkins, or does he try and play the two of them together? Watkins has had a slow start to the season as a result of lacking in fitness following a heavy 2023/24 schedule and participation in the European Championships for England. Duran replaced Watkins in the opening three games after Watkins had struggled to make his mark. However, Watkins scored twice in Saturday's 3-2 win over Everton to cast aside any doubt that he would struggle to score goals like last season.

""We have to think about how we can play with two strikers - this is the challenge I have.""

Unai Emery

Unai Emery has historically shown at Villa and the majority of other clubs he has managed that he likes to play a system that uses one striker. This is with the thought that both on and off the ball his teams can be more aggressive and attacking, and wide players can have a greater impact and more space to play in when just one forward is in play. However, now might be the team to start thinking that a system that sees two high-class forwards play together is the way to go. Watkins and Duran have started together just twice for Aston Villa since Duran's arrival last January. Neither of those games saw the two work well together (West Ham away in a 1-1 draw and Crystal Palace away in a 5-0 defeat) and now the work must be done to ensure it is better in future. Unai Emery said, following Saturday's win over the Toffees, that it will take time for Duran to build his connection with Watkins. What will help to improve the success of the partnership is Duran's growing levels in terms of maturity and quality which has massively improved since his summer of transfer chaos.

Of course, if the two of them do start together, then someone else will have to miss out. Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans, and Morgan Rogers have all had excellent starts to the season and it would be unlikely that either of those three would be dropped to the bench. It would more likely be one of Jacob Ramsey, Leon Bailey, or captain John McGinn that would make way should he go in favour of two upfront. This could change the whole dynamic of the way Villa presses and attacks, so Emery has big decisions to make in a week where Villa plays two big games.

What has changed for Jhon Duran at Aston Villa?

""There was a bit of drama around him in the summer and for some reason, this season, his attitude and mentality has changed.""

Jacob Ramsey

Following his 30-yard thunderbolt against Everton, Duran has been the target of praise from teammates, Unai Emery, and the supporters. Duran seemed to be on the verge of leaving Aston Villa in the summer as a move to Chelsea and then West Ham was almost finalised. Fortunately for Villa, they stood firm in their £40 million valuation of the 20-year-old, and other clubs were not willing to pay the asking price. Unfortunately for Duran and the club, he had made his feelings clear about wanting a move away from the club with social media activity that had frustrated the fan base and many called for him to be shown the door.

After a long summer of rumours and saga, Duran of course remained at Villa Park and it seems as though he has knuckled down and he has reaped the rewards. One of the reasons, allegedly, he wanted to leave the club was to play more regularly and his incredible start to the season will only cement that feeling. There seems to be a greater level of maturity to his game that will certainly help him should he start alongside Ollie Watkins.

Team news

Leon Bailey, having missed the win over Everton with a hamstring injury, has traveled with the squad to Switzerland and is in contention to play. Unai Emery, talking during his press conference this afternoon, said, "He is in the squad. We will decide if he's playing minutes or in the starting XI. It's good news."

Matty Cash is still out following his thigh injury picked up during August's defeat to Arsenal whilst Diego Carlos is back fit having been on the bench at Villa Park on Saturday. Meanwhile, Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are thought to be within weeks of being back in the matchday squad.

Villa will play six more games in all competitions across the next three weeks before the October international break and Emery will be keen to rotate his squad as intelligently as possible.

UTV