Since Duran joined Villa in January 2023, he has featured alongside Watkins only twice.
Although Emery suggested on Monday that he is open to playing both of his strikers, it is clear that he has a preference for one or the other.
This situation could easily cause friction between both players, but Duran says he’s happy to play whatever role the team needs.
“We worked hard as a team, and my role is to score goals. The most important thing was securing the victory and earning three points away from home,” Duran told Amazon Prime after the match.
“I’m just happy to be here and I really love competing with Ollie Watkins. When it’s my turn I will step up and hopefully I can score a goal and help the team.
“We are very happy to be where we are in the table now, but we have to win this game at home [against Celtic] and we’re almost done, so we’re thrilled about it.”
Duran turns 21 on Friday and knows exactly how he wants to celebrate.
“I definitely won’t go out to celebrate my birthday because my goal is to score on Saturday to celebrate,” he added.
In his post-match interview, Emery explained why he still chose Watkins over Duran.
“Sometimes he [Duran] it’s passionate and we have to try to strike a balance with it,” Emery told Amazon Prime.
“He scored a great goal and is working. We are trying to strengthen the team with a tactical approach. Its potential is huge. Tactically he is improving and he played a fantastic 45 minutes today.”
