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Feb. 5, 2026Updated 4:01 pm EST
Amadou Onana and Ollie Watkins trained on Thursday ahead of Aston Villa’s trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
The pair featured in Unai Emery’s session, having missed Villa’s 1-0 home defeat to Brentford the previous week.
Watkins sustained a hamstring issue in the first half of the Europa League tie against RB Salzburg a week ago. Villa decided against taking the risk of the England international playing against Brentford, with Tammy Abraham starting up front and making his second debut for the club.
Onana, meanwhile, was a curious absence and remained on the bench for the duration of the defeat. With key injuries to Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn, Onana’s importance has grown.
Emery said after that the Belgium international had suffered “muscle tiredness” which restricted his involvement. Onana has struggled with fitness since arriving for a club record £50million fee from Everton in 2024, but had been in excellent form before missing against Brentford.
Onana has dealt with fitness issues this season (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Villa will train again on Friday before travelling to Bournemouth, with the expectation of both Watkins and Onana being available. January signing, Alysson, also returned to training this week and aims to be in contention for the match.
Watkins endured a slow start to the season, but has scored eight goals in 23 Premier League games this season. Onana has dealt with hamstring issues of his own but has appeared 21 times in all competitions for Villa.
Feb 5, 2026
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