Although Aston Villa attacking duo Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers played key roles to start this season, the pair struggled to hit top form in front of goal in our opening games.
Rogers went without a goal or an assist in our first five games of the campaign, while Watkins openly conceded that he wasn’t 100 percent fitness wise after a busy summer, and he looked far from his usual self in the first few weeks.
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Both found it difficult in the final third to make a decisive impact, be it Watkins missing big chances against Arsenal, while Rogers was producing one stand-out performance after another, but lacked a ruthlessness to his play that we saw during pre-season.
Fortunately though, it appears as though both have now turned the page on those struggles, as they’ve gradually built on their fundamental contributions to our excellent start to the year by adding goal involvements on a consistent basis over the past fortnight and more.
Watkins now has three assists and four goals in his last five appearances across all competitions, as the 28-year-old has repeated his impressive usual trend of going on a run once he’s found a breakthrough, as he now has the confidence to be more consistent with his end product.
As for Rogers, he followed up his two assists in our win over Wolves with a clinical finish at Ipswich this past weekend, and so he has now hopefully found that edge to his play in advanced areas too in order to be a regular source of goals and assists moving forward, to not only add another decisive attacking dynamic to our play, but to also continue to take his game to the next level.
For Watkins though, his improvement has been particularly impressive and noteworthy as he looked much sharper and fitter on Sunday afternoon, as he played a crucial role in leading the Villa line to link our play together and stretch the Ipswich defence with his movement.
It’s a far cry from the player who was struggling with his touch and the tempo of the game last month, and it’s hoped he can now stay healthy and continue to build on his excellent recent form.
In contrast, Rogers has looked a real threat from the start. His ball-carrying ability, strength, pace and technical ability have all helped him establish himself as a pivotal player for Emery as a regular starter and a superb fit for our system and structure. For all that talent though, it was that final piece that was missing with his end product, and if he can now maintain his recent impact, he’s going to have some season this year.
Add to the mix Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey out wide along with the impact of Jhon Duran off the bench and Emiliano Buendia continuing to improve after his injury layoff, Villa have a dangerous attacking unit that will cause problems for any backline when fit and in form.
With a huge week ahead in Europe and the Premier League, it’s hoped we’re seeing Watkins and Rogers hit top form at a crucial point in the campaign, as they will undoubtedly have integral roles to play in shaping our season and how successful it proves to be.
