Having once again played an influential role in our latest win, Ollie Watkins continues to fire Aston Villa towards our objectives this season.
The 28-year-old bagged a brilliant brace in our 3-2 victory at Luton Town this weekend, taking his tally for the campaign to 21 in 37 appearances across all competitions, while also contributing 10 assists.
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He now has 26 goal involvements in the Premier League, more than any other player, as he not only continues to take his own game to the next level, but also plays a leading role in our pursuit of success and achieving loftier ambitions. With 16 league goals to his name already, it’s his most prolific year yet in the top flight.
There really is no underplaying how far Watkins has come under Unai Emery’s guidance. While his quality was evident previously, he has developed and evolved significantly during the period of working with the Spaniard, with his all-round game vastly improving.
Whether it’s his movement off the ball to create openings, his tactical awareness and positioning to not only help the team but to put himself in areas where he can be decisive, his hold-up and link-up play to add a focal point up top, his work ethic off the ball in pressing from the front and all that combined now with clinical finishing.
Watkins is continuing to have a brilliant season, and the hope is that he can extend that through the business end of the campaign in order to help us ultimately qualify for the Champions League and secure silverware through the Europa Conference League.
There was concern last summer and following the January transfer window that Emery hadn’t added more firepower up top to cover for Watkins and allow him to rotate more often. Naturally, fingers are still crossed that the England international can stay fit between now and the end of the season, but that decision and faith from Emery has paid off.
Importantly, it has been rewarded through the hard work and mentality from Watkins, who constantly receives praise from the Villa boss about his professionalism and approach, and it’s clear that he values him so highly for what he brings away from the pitch too.
At 28, we’re perhaps entering the peak years of Watkins’ career. Hopefully he still has gears to go through and continues to improve year on year, with the quality around him continuing to improve too both through the development of perfecting our style and structure with what we’ve already got in the squad and with who arrives in the coming transfer windows.
However, he is rightly being singled out for praise amid a superb campaign in which he’s showcasing his class, and it’s a delight to see it all coming together for him as he continues to establish himself as our leading man with his goalscoring exploits in what will hopefully be a crowning period for the club.
A beautiful, beautiful pass and finish. 🎨
Ollie Watkins' 21st goal of the season! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EPbFVh6S6B
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 2, 2024