Aston Villa left it late on Tuesday night at the King Power Stadium, but Bertrand Traore’s stunning goal secured a crucial 2-1 win over Leicester City.
In a game that appeared to be heading towards a share of the spoils between the two sides, Villa – specifically Traore – produced a decisive and game-winning moment of class to extend our superb recent run.
READ MORE: What Emery said in reaction to stunning late Villa win over Leicester
That’s now five wins in our last six Premier League games, with just one goal conceded in open play during that run while we’ve scored 11 goals. The three points moved us up into seventh place in the standings, and while there is still a long way to go, the idea of qualifying for Europe becomes a more realistic objective game by game.
Given our fixture schedule in the coming months which sees us face many of the teams around us, it promises to be a fundamental period of the campaign. For now though, Villa continue to set the foundation with these results to really go after a European spot.
Watkins continues superb goalscoring run
That’s now six in six away games for Ollie Watkins, as he showed great strength, desire and composure to open the scoring with his 11th league goal of the season.
The consistency he’s showing in front of goal now is so impressive, as that’s now eight in his last 10 outings, and beyond that he continues to lead the line brilliantly with his movement, work ethic and ability to offer a genuine threat in the final third.
As always, it’s important others chip in and contribute too just as Traore did, but Watkins continues to be a decisive and influential figure for us up top.
Buendia registers first Premier League assist of season
He’s had to wait, but that brilliant through ball from Emiliano Buendia to set Watkins through for his goal was the Argentine playmaker’s first league assist of the season.
The touch, the swivel and the execution of the weighted pass to break the defensive line and put Watkins in behind was a joy to watch, and having spoken himself on several occasions about wanting to improve his numbers, this was the perfect example of the quality that Buendia possesses.
He has been unfortunate this season as he has put his teammates in great positions to score on numerous occasions, but our finishing has let us down. However, with an in-form Watkins ahead of him, that duo will hopefully now continue to flourish.
Good reaction after conceding
Given we’ve been so good defensively in recent weeks, there was a real sense of disappointment and frustration when Leicester bagged their equaliser through Harvey Barnes.
It took a top goal to break our defensive resilience, but the response after that goal was excellent as we went straight back to trying to implement our ideas and style on the game.
Particularly after Leicester went down to 10 men, Villa showed more control in managing the tempo of the encounter and dominating possession, and that’s what we’re still developing under Unai Emery.
Traore impact
What a night for Traore. Following the decision to loan him to Basaksehir last August, the 27-year-old would probably have doubted whether or not he’d experience moments like these in a Villa shirt again.
However, he’s returned to the fold under Emery and is not only an important option off the bench, but evidently based on the celebrations following the full-time whistle, a highly popular figure in the dressing room.
It was a sumptuous finish from the Burkina Faso international, as he lofted his curling effort into the back of the net with a first-time strike, and it’s vital that he continues to be decisive when given an opportunity.
Emery leading a European charge
The main focus and objective is arguably still to solidify our position in the top half of the table and finally tick that box again after so many years failing to do so.
However, the run that Villa have been on since Emery took charge has seen us enter the conversation for Europe, and given the confidence, belief and desire in this squad right now coupled with the togetherness that they’re showing, there’s no reason why we can’t be ambitious and target something bigger.
We still need results to go our way given the games in-hand that our rivals have, but given we still face many of the sides around us between now and the end of the season, we’ve hopefully got a real shot of producing what would be a major shock. First though, the focus is solely on Nottingham Forest this Saturday and completing a very positive week of results.