Ollie Watkins decision made as Unai Emery reveals Aston Villa team news for Premier League game at Chelsea
Manager Unai Emery has named his team for Aston Villa’s Premier League match against Chelsea this afternoon.
Villa are on the hunt for an eighth consecutive Premier League win but are not the favourites in what’s a finely balanced fixture at Stamford Bridge between two of the top four today.
Emery has made two significant changes from the Villa team that beat Manchester United at Villa Park last weekend.
Striker Ollie Watkins is replaced by Donyell Malen and drops to the bench, with the Dutch international handed another chance to show what he can do at centre-forward – I think this actually suggests Villa could play with an unorthodox number nine and ask Malen to impact the game in other areas too.
Emery tweaks Villa’s middle against Chelsea
Villa’s second change sees Emi Buendía come in from the start in place of Amadou Onana, who is among the substitutes at Stamford Bridge.
Youri Tielemans will join Boubacar Kamara in a two-man midfield after a succession of appearances further upfield since his return from injury.
Chelsea will be expecting Morgan Rogers to revert to the middle of the attacking three with Buendía returning on the left. I’m expecting that too. We could both be wrong – Rogers has been in great form on the left and a little surprise here and there wouldn’t go amiss today.
It’s easy enough to list this eleven in Villa’s usual format but Emery has served up a couple of twists on the formation lately. I reckon there’s a good chance we see another one at Chelsea today.
George Hemmings is on the bench again, joined this time by Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba.
Villa team news in full
Starting XI: Martínez, Cash, Konsa, Lindelöf, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Buendía, Rogers, Malen
Substitutes: Bizot, Digne, García, Bogarde, Hemmings, Onana, Sancho, Watkins, Jimoh-Aloba
How to watch Chelsea v Villa
➡️ How to watch Chelsea v Aston Villa: kick-off time, TV channels and streams
➡️ Chelsea v Aston Villa: predicted line-up, team news and match preview
The post Ollie Watkins decision made as Unai Emery reveals Aston Villa team news for Premier League game at Chelsea appeared first on AVillaFan.com – Aston Villa Fan Site.