Unai Emery says a late decision will be made on Ollie Watkins’ availability ahead of Aston Villa’s game against Nottingham Forest.

Watkins was substituted at half-time in Villa’s 3-2 away win over RB Leipzig and Emery subsequently confirmed that Watkins had been substituted early due to a “minor injury”, with Jhon Duran taking his place after half-time and scoring a long-range try seven minutes later .

Villa were due to train on Friday afternoon, with the decision on Watkins’ fitness depending on his performance in the session.

“We will train this afternoon and then decide how the players are doing,” Emery said at his pre-match press conference. “We trained yesterday but it was a recovery day and some players were resting.

“Today we will train and find out how we are doing. I don’t know (if it will be available). He recovered yesterday and if he trains as usual today and feels good, he will be available again tomorrow.”

Watkins has scored seven goals in 15 Premier League games this season and provided an assist in Tuesday’s win in Germany. However, he has had a difficult season, partly due to a shortened pre-season and also injury problems which have affected his overall form.

He had just a week to prepare between the late return – as England’s European Championship campaign stretched to the final on July 11 – and the opening Premier League game against West Ham on August 17.

Duran pushes to become Villa’s starting number 9 (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The 28-year-old has been substituted ten times this season and doesn’t seem as sharp or clinical physically.

Instead, it was Duran who grabbed the headlines and pushed to become Villa’s starting number 9.

“Ollie started the season under different circumstances,” Emery added. “Usually in previous years he did pre-season but then moved to the national team because he was progressing and progressing in his career. And one step forward is joining the national team.

“He was a bit below fitness at the start (of this season) and had a few minor aches and injuries. But he was willing to help the team, did a fantastic job and kept getting better.

“We had Jhon Duran helping us and coming on. We have two important strikers. One with great potential and another with constant consistency, even when he doesn’t feel 100 percent.

“He’s successful in everything we need to do our job in every game. I can’t say anything bad about him (Watkins). His commitment is so, so high.”

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(Top photo: Luciano Lima/Getty Images)