Ollie Watkins is “100 per cent available” to play against Wolves on Saturday, despite icing his ankle on the substitutes’ bench during Tuesday night’s game. However, Unai Emery has confirmed that Jaden Philogene remains sidelined. Philogene missed the win over Leicester at the end of last month but returned to action against Everton last weekend. Unfortunately, after sustaining a similar injury in the final stages of the 3-2 victory, he missed Villa’s Champions League trip to BSC Young Boys.
In the match at the Wankdorf Stadium, goals from Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey gave Villa a 2-0 lead before half-time. However, it could have been more, as Watkins had a goal disallowed by VAR due to a handball. He was then substituted in the second half, replaced by Jhon Duran, who also had a goal ruled out by VAR for handball.
In his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Unai Emery provided an update on Watkins’ availability.
Unai Emery said “He is available 100 per cent to play. He had problems, like other players, but it’s not relevant, I think. Of course, sometimes he has to stop because we need to protect the players, but he is 100 per cent available tomorrow.”
Regarding Philogene’s condition, Emery explained “He had a kick, and he was out for two weeks until the match against Everton. Just in the last action, when he was dribbling, he got another kick in the same place.”
Villa will be looking for their fourth Premier League win of the season on Saturday against Wolves, who are winless at the start of the campaign. Emery’s side beat Wolves 2-0 at Villa Park last season, after drawing 1-1 at Molineux earlier in the campaign. Wolves’ current tally of one point from four games marks their joint-worst start to a Premier League season, matching their 2003-04 record, when they eventually finished bottom of the table. They have won only one of their past 14 league fixtures and are winless in seven, losing six, since beating Luton 2-1 in April.
