Watkins, Cash, Digne, Durán – Aston Villa team news and injury updates for the match against Southampton
Here’s a glance at Aston Villa’s roster as Unai Emery takes his team to St Mary’s on Saturday (3pm) hoping to keep their Premier League momentum going.
Unai Emery and Aston Villa go to the south coast this weekend to face Nathan Jones’ surging Southampton. Villa manager Emery expressed his excitement after his fourth win in six games against Leeds last week.
At the exact halfway point of the season, Villa are three points behind those directly above them, tenth-placed Chelsea and ninth-placed Liverpool. With no FA Cup action next week following their humbling defeat to Stevenage, Emery wants to go on and chase down those ahead of Villa as he aims to maintain his impressive start to 2023.
As previously reported, Villa signed Alex Moreno for £12 million from Real Betis last week, with the Spaniard having an immediate impact. Emery has also boosted his attacking ranks with the £14.75m signing of Jhon Duran from Chicago Fire, subject to a physical, personal terms, and getting a UK work visa. Duran, 19, is currently on international service for Colombia’s under-20 national team. Colombia plays four games in eight days in Group A of the under-20 South American Championships, against Paraguay (January 20, 12.30am UK time), Peru (January 21, 11.30pm), Brazil (January 26, 12.30am), and Argentina (January 28, 12.30am). The 10-team event will continue till February 12.
Duran could be available for Villa’s home game against Arsenal on February 18 or a week later against Everton (February 25), depending on Colombia’s advancement. The Manchester City game next month (February 12) may be too soon for him.
Back at Villa Park, here’s a look at Emery’s injury list and his full squad for Saturday’s game against Southampton. Leander Dendoncker of Belgium is available after serving a one-game suspension last week, while loanee Jan Bednarek is ineligible against his native club.
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