Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has suggested he will face Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran together in the Champions League match at RB Leipzig on Tuesday.
The two forwards have only started alongside each other in Villa’s attack twice since Duran joined the club in January 2023.
Instead, Emery has generally preferred to start one over the other, but he says he is keen to try to make them work as a pair.
“The next challenge I have is playing with both,” Emery said.
“We try and I will try again to play with both. We have to keep the balance tactically, playing with both. The team always comes first.”
Duran has become known as something of a super replacement for Villa given his goalscoring exploits coming off the bench.
However, he started as the lone striker against Southampton at the weekend and scored the only goal of the game as Villa recorded back-to-back Premier League wins.
“They are both very good strikers, each of them is different,” Emery added.
“Watkins is getting more experiences with the (England) national team and with us in Europe, being consistent, always being competitive in everything we need to do on the pitch.
“Jhon Duran has great potential. He is gradually improving. His adaptation started two years ago and it is much better than the process we had.”
Villa have won three of their five matches in Europe so far, although their most recent results were a 1-0 defeat against Club Brugge and a goalless draw against Juventus.
RB Leipzig, on the other hand, have lost every match they have played so far in Europe.
“It’s the sixth day and it’s very important because we feel we are close to the next round, but we have the opportunity to be in the top eight,” Emery added.
“This match is very difficult against Leipzig, who were more contenders than us at the start of the competition to be in the top eight or top 24.
“They had a very tough schedule, playing a lot of really good teams.”
