Watkins and wonderkid start – How Aston Villa are likely to lineup vs Villarreal
Aston Villa are set to complete their pre-season with a trip to face Villarreal on Sunday.
The Villans are preparing for their second friendly in as many days after falling to defeat against Marseille on Saturday evening (9 August).
Now, Unai Emery and Co. are making the near 500-mile journey to Estadi de la Ceramica to face his former club, the Yellow Submarine, on 10 August.
With kick-off against the LaLiga outfit moving ever closer, Ollie Watkins could be limbering up, ready to start the final clash of the summer.
What happened vs Marseille?
Before looking into the friendly against Marcelino Garcia Toral’s side, the prior match against the Ligue 1 club has to be considered.
The Villans travelled to Stade Velodrome and fell to a 3-1 defeat thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace and Mason Greenwood.
- Greenwood gave Marseille the lead after just five minutes
- John McGinn scored a chip to level the score three minutes later
- Aubameyang scored a quick-fire double in the second half to secure a 3-1 win
The latter was involved in a highly contentious moment with Tyrone Mings and Amadou Onana, fueling plenty of controversy on social media.
This was just one of multiple flash points that resulted in 11 yellow cards and ultimately seemed to take energy out of the Villans’ legs late on.
Emery still opted to make seven changes, but this saw a number of high-profile stars go unused, something which could point towards starts in Spain.
Watkins could start v Villarreal
With all that in mind, it may be an easy task for the Spanish head coach to select his Villa starting 11 to face his old side.
This could see Emi Martinez return to the side, to be joined by Ian Maatsen, Pau Torres and Triston Rowe in the back line, with Ezri Konsa potentially set to feature once more.
The midfield could feature a youthful look with wonderkid Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba potentially set for a start, to be joined by the likes of Emi Buendia, Boubacar Kamara or Youri Tielemans.
In the forward line, Leon Bailey could be set to come in alongside Evann Guessand, who may secure his first start at Aston Villa.
This could all be in support of Watkins, who may be set to start again in hope of maintaining his superb form throughout pre-season.
| Stat | Ollie Watkins |
| Appearances | 4 |
| Goals | 4 |
It will certainly be interesting to see who Emery opts to feature against Villarreal and how that impacts his team selection for the upcoming Newcastle United clash.
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