By Jude Summerfield
Ollie Watkins has recovered from a cut to his knee to be named in Aston Villa's starting XI for Sunday's Premier League clash with West Ham.
The in-form England striker limped off during the Villans' 4-0 Europa Conference League victory over Ajax on Thursday night as they booked a quarter-final clash with Lille.
The injury to Watkins had Fantasy Premier League managers sweating over whether to include him in their teams, but Unai Emery has deemed the 28-year-old to be fit enough to feature at London Stadium.
Watkins scored and assisted in the 4-1 victory over West Ham back in October and is joined in the Villa attack by Jhon Duran, while there are starts elsewhere for Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers. Right-back Matty Cash was named on the bench, with Ezri Konsa expected to fill in for the Poland international.
Emery is without suspended midfielder John McGinn after his red card in the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham last week and is also missing Boubacar Kamara, Emiliano Buendia, Jacob Ramsey, Kortney Hause and Tyrone Mings to injury.
Hosts West Ham are only missing winger Maxwel Cornet, with Irons boss David Moyes naming an attack of Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus.
READ THE LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS, RUMOURS & GOSSIP
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Ollie Watkins injury update: Aston Villa striker named in starting XI vs West Ham.
