Aston Villa injury news: Watkins picks up knock in defeat to Liverpool

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard confirmed that Ollie Watkins sustained an injury in the latter stages against Liverpool.

Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Reds at Villa Park on Tuesday night, with Douglas Luiz’s early opener being cancelled out by goals from Joel Matip and Sadio Mane.

READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa come up short in defeat to Liverpool

While a top-half finish in the Premier League remains the main objective for Villa in the coming weeks, it remains to be seen if we suffered a fresh injury blow in midweek with Watkins visibly limping off after putting in another top shift for the team.

As per Gerrard in his post-match interview, as seen in the video below, he confirmed that there was a “small injury” to Watkins, and that the Villa medical staff will now analyse that heading into the weekend.

Villa next face Crystal Palace at home on Sunday, and so it’s hoped that Watkins is able to recover in time to feature given his recent form and the positive signs of improvement in his partnership with Danny Ings up top.

Watkins, 26, has scored 10 goals in 32 Premier League appearances this year, and he’ll be hoping to add to that tally before the campaign concludes to set up a big pre-season ahead of what will hopefully be a more prolific year for him next season with Gerrard taking charge of his first full campaign.