Club hero has say as Unai Emery's mulls Aston Villa striker conundrum
Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham have been backed to bring the best out of each other at Villa as Unai Emery decides who starts in attack against Leeds.
Choosing between the two strikers is the biggest selection headache facing the manager ahead of Saturday’s match, where a win would put his team firmly back in the Premier League title race.
Abraham scored the first goal since joining in an £18.2million move from Besiktas in last weekend’s FA Cup defeat to Newcastle.
But whether the 28-year-old’s impressive all-round performance was enough to displace Watkins remains to be seen.
The latter has been Villa’s main striker since signing from Brentford in 2020 and immediately returned to the starting line-up for the last two Premier League matches following a hamstring injury.
That is despite a poor run of form which has seen the 30-year-old score only once in his last nine appearances.
Former Villa striker Garry Thompson believes Watkins is likely to get the nod against Leeds but believes the competition for a starting place can help both players.
