Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has been playing in the form of his life this campaign however, will that be enough for the Englishman to win the Premier League Player of the Season?
Without Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa wouldn’t have scored 31 of their 73 goals in the Premier League this season, telling of the striker’s stature in Unai Emery’s squad.
It’s been a phenomenal season for the 28-year-old, who has scored 19 league goals and recorded 12 assists this term, putting him behind only Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe as the top contributors in Europe’s top-five leagues.
READ MORE: Ollie Watkins’ life outside of football
The Englishman is just one goal away from becoming Villa’s top-scorer in a single Premier League campaign, with Watkins currently tied with Christian Benteke’s 2012/13 tally of 19.
With three games to go, it would be expected that the former Brentford forward would become the record holder however, for all of his achievements, he may still miss out on the Premier League Player of the Season award.
Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker in agreement about Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Premier League veterans Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker assessed, the Villa talisman’s chances of winning the individual prize, both in agreement on his claim to be in contention.
Starting the debate, Lineker said: “He should certainly be in the final six I would say, he’s had an absolutely brilliant season.
“In terms of his goal involvements, he’s up there with the top players right across Europe, he’s consistent, his finishing has improved immeasurably this season.
“He has to be in contention, it’s quite open this season.”
Shearer agreed, dubbing Watkins as ‘unbelievable’ however, speculated that the winner of the award could come from the side that wins the Premier League.
“You would think Player of the Season would come from whoever wins the Premier League but Ollie Watkins, he has to be up there.
“He’s had an unbelievable season, goals, assists.”
Ollie Watkins must be in the top three candidates to win Player of the Season
No one in the league has more goals and assists than Watkins, with only Cole Palmer and Erling Haaland ahead of the Villa striker in the race for the Golden Boot.
The remarkable difference between the trio is that Emery’s star man has scored all of his goals from open play, with Palmer only netting 11 from open play and Haaland a more impressive, 17.
It would be baffling not to see Watkins close to winning the prize based on individual form throughout the campaign however, the previous three winners of the award did come from the Premier League-winning club.
It’ll be interesting to see just how highly-regarded Watkins’ campaign is alongside the best in the league, in what has been a remarkable season so far for the Villa superstar.
