Unai Emery has given his verdict on Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins following their defeat against Arsenal on Saturday evening.
Aston Villa were made to rue missed chances as Unai Emery’s men succumbed to a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at Villa Park.
Ollie Watkins was the main culprit for spurning two golden opportunities in the match, as the 28-year-old was uncharacteristically wasteful.
Watkins had the first glorious chance of the match when he found acres of space in the box but sadly, the Villa No.11 fluffed his lines and scuffed his first-time attempt wide of the post.
An even better opportunity would fall his way in the second half. Amadou Onana saw his long-range effort deflect off the crossbar before Watkins close-range diving header produced an excellent acrobatic save from David Raya. It was a chance he simply had to score.
Arsenal then took the lead moments later through Leandro Trossard, making the Villans deeply regret their missed opportunities.
Unai Emery backs Ollie Watkins after ‘terrible’ miss vs Arsenal
After not playing a single minute in pre-season, Watkins has now started back-to-back games before being substituted on the hour mark for Jhon Duran.
Watkins was handed a 5/10 rating in both games however, if he had taken one of his two chances, that would have been much higher against Arsenal and his side may have won the match.
But, it simply wasn’t to be for the striker, who hasn’t found the ruthless streak that he showed throughout last season.
Watkins first-half sitter was described as ‘terrible’ by the Birmingham World but Emery wasn’t discouraged by his display and felt the ‘most important’ thing was how he fashioned those opportunities.
Speaking after the game, as per BBC Sport, Emery said: “The most important thing is to create chances, of course he is not finishing them all but I am very happy how he progressed from the first match at West Ham.
“His progress has been performing better, and creating chances. Ollie Watkins, chances like that in the future, he will score.”
Ollie Watkins just needs to get off the mark
Watkins had an incredible campaign last term as he produced 37 goal involvements in all competitions and tallied the most assists (13) of any striker across Europe.
Unfortunately, in the opening two matches, he hasn’t performed like a striker who couldn’t stop scoring last term but the drop in performance levels is understandable.
Watkins is weeks behind most of his other teammates, who would have had a full pre-season to prepare, whereas the Villa marksman played zero minutes in friendlies.
That explains why he has looked rusty against West Ham and Arsenal but if he can get off the mark next weekend with a trip to Leicester, he could rediscover the groove that saw him outperform some of the world’s best strikers in 2023/24.
