Unai Emery confirmed after Aston Villa’s win over Club Brugge that Ollie Watkins asked to be replaced at half-time due to injury.
The striker picked up a knock late on in the first half and received medial treatment on the pitch before coming back on.
But unable to continue after the interval, he was replaced by Leon Bailey, while Morgan Rogers swapped the right wing for the left and Marcus Rashford went up front.
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"Ollie Watkins, he told us to change him because he wasn't feeling good,” Emery explained. “I don’t exactly know his injury, but I think it is small.
“We used at that moment the chance to use Marcus Rashford as a striker. Really, he played the second half performing well as a striker.”
Boubacar Kamara also came off at half-time and was replaced by Marco Asensio.
Despite fears that Kamara may have picked up a new problem, Emery explained the reason for the substitution in his post-match press conference.
“Kamara is coming back after his injury and he was getting minutes,” he said. “Today he played 45.
“It was both. One is because I was protecting him and secondly, tactically, I thought we needed to change something.”
Asensio fired Villa into the lead in the 50th minute before scoring his second of the night after Ian Maatsen turned in Morgan Rogers’ cross.
