The last international break of 2024 came at the perfect time for Aston Villa after a run of four straight defeats in all competitions for Unai Emery‘s side.
Losses to Liverpool, Club Brugge, Tottenham Hotspur, and Crystal Palace have been disappointing and the Spanish head coach will be using this international window to formulate a plan to get his team back on track.
Aston Villa host Palace at Villa Park in the Premier League on the other side of the international break, and Emery will be hoping that his stars come back from national duty full of confidence and without any injuries.
However, there is already one injury concern for the Villans to worry over after the few matches that have already been played during the week.
Aston Villa’s international stars
Ezri Konsa started alongside Marc Guehi at centre-back in England’s 3-0 win over Greece on Thursday night but did not come out for the second-half.
Lee Carsley revealed, after the game, that he has suffered a hip injury and is set for a scan, but added that the defender is in a ‘good’ place and walking around.
Meanwhile, Emiliano Martinez started between the sticks for Argentina and endured a frustrating evening, as his side lost 2-1 to Paraguay and he did not make a single save for his team.
It has been a far from ideal start to the break for those two Villa stars, as Konsa is now an injury concern and Martinez’s performance will do little to fill him with confidence.
However, one player who may be better off on the other side of the break is centre-forward Ollie Watkins, who starred for England against Greece.
Ollie Watkins’ performance against Greece
The Villa striker was selected ahead of Three Lions captain and Bayern Munich star Harry Kane, who was signed by the Bundesliga side for £82m last year.
Carsley gave Watkins the nod, with England needing to win the game by two goals to go ahead of Greece on the head-to-head record, and was rewarded with a simply sublime showing.
The former Brentford ace opened the scoring and set the tone for the Three Lions in the seventh minute of the game, with a composed finish into the back of the net from Noni Madueke’s ball across the box.
Vs Greece | Ollie Watkins |
|---|---|
Minutes | 66 |
Shots | 1 |
Goals | 1 |
Dribble success rate | 100% |
Touches | 17 |
Possession lost | 4x |
As you can see in the table above, the Englishman scored from his only shot of the game and rarely gave the ball away with his touches throughout his 66 minutes on the pitch.
It was an incredibly efficient and superb display from the number nine, who proved that Carsley was right to select him ahead of the £82m-rated skipper.
Emery will be hoping that Watkins can, now, get back to his clinical best for Villa, as the attacker has missed a whopping 11 ‘big chances’ in 11 Premier League games this season, scoring five goals.
Hopefully, his goal for England against Greece will help him to kick on and impress against Palace when the Villans are back after the break.
Related
Aston Villa had a gem who wanted to be Grealish 2.0, now he’s in League One
The former Aston Villa starlet had hopes of being the next Jack Grealish.
