Ollie Watkins keen to shine in showdown with Harry Kane as he looks to prove to Lee Carsley why he should 'be the man' for England over Bayern Munich superstar

Ollie Watkins hopes to usage Aston Villa’s Champions League conflict pinch Bayern Munich to switch Harry Kane arsenic England centre-forward.

Kane’s conflict pinch Watkins will supply an intriguing subplot to a fascinating match. Watkins was Kane’s lawman successful England’s Euro 2024 squad and nan 28-year-old has established himself arsenic 1 of nan champion centre-forwards successful nan Premier League since Kane departed for nan Bundesliga a small much than a twelvemonth ago.

Both are expected to beryllium named successful interim leader Lee Carsley’s squad this week for nan Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland. Asked astir his world ambitions, Watkins said: ‘Everyone is fighting for a position connected nan transportation truthful I want to beryllium nan man to play but time successful time out. Harry and I person a bully relationship.

‘When I’m successful nan campy I speak to him truthful there’s nary animosity. I’m doing each I tin to beryllium connected nan transportation and truthful is he.

‘He’s sewage nan records and scored nan number of goals he has for a reason. He’s put successful a batch of difficult activity complete nan years to get there.’

Kane suffered a sound to his ankle during Bayern’s 1-1 tie pinch German champions Bayer Leverkusen past Saturday but trained connected Tuesday and has travelled to Birmingham.

Bayern were nan guidance for Villa’s finest hour. A extremity from Peter Withe was capable to descend nan German giants and guarantee Villa lifted nan European Cup successful Rotterdam 42 years ago.

This is their first quality successful nan title since it was rebranded nan Champions League, and their first each told since 1983. Unai Emery has done a singular occupation to assistance Villa from top-flight strugglers to Champions League qualifiers successful 2 years successful nan role, but he is concerned their protect weaknesses will undermine them connected Wednesday.

Villa person conceded 11 goals this word and kept only 1 cleanable expanse successful their 8 matches – nan 3-0 triumph complete Swiss champions Young Boys successful Bern past month.

Emery said: ‘We are not defending for illustration we did past year. It is not conscionable astir nan protect players aliases nan goalkeeper. The first defenders are nan strikers and we person to activity connected improving nan mistakes quickly. We can’t concede nan goals we are doing if we want to beryllium astatine nan apical level.’