Unai Emery sees competition as a good thing for Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is “happy” to see healthy competition between strikers Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran.

Duran has come off the bench twice this season to score goals in games against West Ham and Leicester and help Villa register wins on both occasions.

Watkins has not scored in the opening three games of the campaign but had magnificent opportunities denied by David Raya and Mads Hermansen in matches against Arsenal and Leicester respectively.

Emery insists the pair of strikers are increasing the level in each other’s game, which he is pleased to see.

He told a press conference: “I’m happy – I want our players competing to increase (their level) and add their qualities to us.

“There are two strikers in good form and they played together last year sometimes. We can repeat that again, better than last year because when they played together they weren’t in good connection on the pitch.

“I think Jhon Duran is getting more mature and he’s getting confidence. Ollie Watkins, after his small problems and trying to get fitness quickly, is progressively feeling better.

“They can play individually or they can play together. I want the best from them from here until the end of the season. I am happy with those players in this form.”

Villa welcome Everton to Villa Park for Saturday’s evening Premier League kick-off before they travel to Switzerland for their opening Champions League fixture at Young Boys.

It will be the first of many busy weeks for Emery’s men as they plan to balance four competitions across the season.

Villa are no stranger to a hectic fixture schedule following their run to the the Europa Conference League semi-finals last year.

He added: “We have had one year of this experience, playing a similar amount of matches until January and then hopefully more depending on whether we are progressing in the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

“Last year was very interesting with the season we had. Even with a lot of injuries, we were finishing in good balance. This year, we’ve started with less injured players.

Defender Ezri Konsa is expected to be available for the Everton clash after he was forced off with injury in England’s 2-0 win over Finland in midweek.

Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash remain out while Watkins is expected to feature after pulling out of England duty.

Emery said: “The players are coming back after they played with their national teams, they are in the squad.

“He (Watkins) is progressively getting better, feeling better, and he’s in the squad – tomorrow he’ll be available to play.”