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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Aston Villa XI vs Bournemouth: Watkins starts, confirmed team news, lineup and injury latest today

Ollie Watkins has passed a late fitness test as Aston Villa prepare to face Bournemouth in the Premier League today.

The striker was absent for the win over Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League on Thursday due to a "small pain" picked up in training and was subsequently not risked, but faces the Cherries.

Elaborating on Friday, manager Unai Emery said: "He is going to be a doubt for Sunday, but we are adding other players like [Nico] Zaniolo, [Jhon] Duran and [Jacob] Ramsey getting more minutes.

"He is not completely unavailable for Sunday, we are going to wait until tomorrow and it depends if we can take a risk with him. Also, what is he feeling for 90 minutes."

"We are going to think about only the match on Sunday. At the moment it is 50/50 for Sunday."

Boubacar Kamara will definitely be absent after picking up a fifth booking of the season, so Youri Tielemans comes in. Bertrand Traore, Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings are unavailable.

Confirmed team news

AFC Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez, Cook, Christie, Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier, Solanke

Subs: Mepham, Brooks, Rothwell, Ouattara, Sinisterra, Moore, Traore, Billing, Travers

Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Diego Carlos, Torres, Digne, Tielemans, Bailey, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Zaniolo, Watkins

Subs: Cash, Alex Moreno, Lenglet, Diaby, Duran, Olsen, Dendoncker, Ramsey, Iroegbunam

Time and date: 2pm on Sunday, December 3, 2023

Venue: Vitality Stadium

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