At some point, we’ve all agonised over an ‘either/or’ choice.
We weigh up the pros and cons, mulling over which would be the most sensible option for us to take, often crippled by the prospect of regretting making the wrong one.
Sometimes though, the right call is staring us in the face: why not both?
That is the situation Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is in at the moment. He has two strikers in exceptional form, both of whom scored in the 3-1 comeback win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, ones that most other managers in the Premier League wouldn’t hesitate to pick.
Ollie Watkins has three goals in the first five top-flight games this season, and was extremely unlucky to not have another in the Champions League, VAR having decided his arm wafted just a little too close to the ball in Villa’s league-phase opener against Young Boys.
Jhon Duran has four goals across just 131 minutes in the 2024-25 Premier League and, like Watkins, could have a Champions League one to his name too: his chalked-off strike in that game in Switzerland last Tuesday was so aesthetically pleasing it arguably should have been given on that basis alone. Since joining Villa in January last year, Duran has scored nine goals as a substitute in 757 minutes — one every 84 minutes.
So who to choose? The established and proven man, who is into his fifth season of being a consistent source of goals for Villa? Or the coming force, the wildcard who has made such a remarkable impact off the bench?
Perhaps, the right call is staring Emery in the face: why not both?
Since Duran was signed in the winter window of the 2022-23 season, it has tended to be one or the other. He and Watkins have only started together twice, and neither of those games went brilliantly: in the first, against West Ham in March, Duran was hooked at half-time with Villa losing 1-0 (they went on to draw 1-1); in the other, that chaotic game against Crystal Palace on the final day of last season, Emery’s men were beaten 5-0.
Usually, Duran comes on for Watkins — 18 times, in fact. But Watkins has also replaced Duran five times. They have been on the pitch together on 26 occasions other than those two starts, but usually for short periods of time: five minutes here, 11 there. Before the Wolves game, in which Duran was introduced in the 62nd minute, only five of those mutual appearances had lasted longer than 20 minutes.
In short, Emery doesn’t seem especially convinced they can operate together. But could Saturday have changed his mind? It’s the first time both players have scored when on the pitch together, and Duran was heavily involved in the equaliser scored by Watkins.
It would be a bold move to pick both from the start, particularly if it involved dropping the excellent Morgan Rogers. You can’t see Emery going with the pair against Bayern Munich in the Champions League next month, for example. You could also argue that the present approach is going pretty well, given Duran’s impact as a substitute: just because a player excels coming off the bench, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should be ‘promoted’ to the starting XI.
But deary me, you get the sense it would be great fun.
When asked by The Athletic after the Wolves game if he had considered starting the pair, Emery spoke in generalities.
“We are learning, understanding how we can use different players,” he said. “It’s very good news, the goal of Jhon, the goal of (Ezri) Konsa, the two assists of Morgan Rogers. We are adding individual performances, which is very important for the team.”
Still, the fact Watkins and Duran together seems like a live option is illustrative of a slightly wider point that Saturday’s match emphasised: the number of options Emery now has.
The first half was, in the estimation of the Villa manager, their worst performance since he was appointed in late October 2022. They were disjointed and sluggish — for long spells the whole team looked like they had woken up abruptly about five minutes before kick-off and were still groggy. The lax pass Diego Carlos played to gift the opening goal to Matheus Cunha midway through that first half was a significant error, but it was in keeping with their general play.
Which would have been a bigger problem if Emery hadn’t been able to change things from the bench at half-time.
Leon Bailey came on for an injured John McGinn and was lively, while Ian Maatsen was a much more dynamic presence on the left than Lucas Digne had been in the first 45 minutes.
It wasn’t a coincidence that Villa really started to play well, and indeed scored their three goals, after Duran came on, but arguably even better than him was Ross Barkley, introduced for Amadou Onana at the same time, just past the hour. Barkley added direction and purpose to the midfield, as he had against Everton the previous weekend, and at least provided reassurance that Onana is not the only one in the squad who can fill the hole left by Douglas Luiz’s summer move to Juventus.
“I know what I want from him, and he’s doing it,” said Emery of Barkley. “It’s a very good period for him.”
This Villa side still have their share of problems. They have now won two home games after going behind, which is good, but better would be to not trail in the first place. They have issues at right-back: Matty Cash’s ongoing injury absence means they have had to use players out of position there, which makes them lop-sided. That can cause knock-on problems: Konsa played on the right against Wolves, which meant Carlos was in the middle to make one of his troublingly familiar errors.
It remains to be seen how they will cope with at least seven more Champions League fixtures mixed in with their domestic duties. “The demands we have now are more than last year,” Emery said, and he didn’t rule out the possibility that their efforts against Young Boys were a contributing factor to their poor start on Saturday.
Still, even with all that in mind, the Wolves game showed that when Plan A goes awry, Plans B, C and more can save them.
Which could include Watkins and Duran playing together.
Why not give it a go, Unai?
(Top photos: Getty Images)
