Garth Crooks has named Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in his Team of the Week after the 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
The 28-year-old punished an error-prone Fulham defence by bagging himself a brace and helping Unai Emery’s side back into fourth place.
That defeat to Manchester United last week was pretty damaging for the team because everything was going wrong at the wrong time.
But in these moments of need, you need your star men to step up and Ollie Watkins did just that for Aston Villa.
That’s why he was rightfully named in Garth Crooks Team of the Week, as he highlighted the England star’s finishing for both goals, as he told BBC Sport.
For the opening goal, Ollie Watkins did very well to swivel onto his right foot, rather than take a shot with his left, which the Fulham defenders thought he was going to do.
And then for his second, he well and truly did Issa Diop because he pretended to come short, left the Fulham defender for dead, before being fed a through ball by Youri Tielemans, racing through on goal and scoring Premier League goal number 13 for the season.
Ollie Watkins’ brace against Fulham
“What on earth was Antonee Robinson thinking? If in doubt, throw the ball down the line away from your own goal. They teach you that at schoolboy level,” said Crooks.
“This obsession with putting the ball in dangerous areas and leaving your team-mate to deal with the problem is becoming a horrible feature in the modern game.
“Well, Ollie Watkins took full advantage of Robinson’s error of judgement and he made them pay for their folly, and he didn’t leave it there either. The striker scored again in the second half with an even better finish as Villa won 2-1.
“Players such as Watkins must be licking their lips when they see the ball go back towards the opposition’s goal and are given a chance to steal the ball. Whatever happened to that wonderful old adage: don’t put the ball at risk?”
Ollie Watkins crucial in Aston Villa’s Champions League hopes
The injuries have been piling up at the back, with defenders left, right and centre dropping, which isn’t helping the team’s cause in the race to finish fourth or ahead of a return to Europe next month.
But Watkins is still up top and, at the end of the day, it’s the strikers that win you games, Keep him fit and injury-free, and then those big targets might just be met.
The dream for every Villa fan is to secure the Europa Conference League title and top it off by also securing Champions League football.
If that happens, then it will be one of the clubs greatest-ever seasons in decades, so it’s time for these players to write their name into the club’s legendary books.
