After a slow start to the season, Ollie Watkins has started to look back to his best for Aston Villa in the last couple of weeks.
Ollie Watkins did not have a pre-season after representing England in their run to the Euro 2024 final in the summer and it showed as he went three games without a goal for Aston Villa to start the season.
Despite the form of Jhon Duran coming off the bench, Unai Emery kept his faith in Watkins and this has been repaid with a brace against Everton before a goal against Wolves and a goal and assist against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Watkins had always been a decent striker since joining Villa in 2020 but his game has elevated to new heights since Emery took charge in late 2022; as evidenced by his 40 goal contributions last season.
Now that Watkins is up to speed he will be targeting a similar level of output this season as he competes with Europe’s best in the Champions League.
Ollie Watkins outperformed Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah in past year
Watkins did score in Villa’s 3-0 Champions League opening day win against Young Boys but saw his strike ruled out by VAR for a very harsh handball decision.
He will be keen to net a first legitimate goal in Europe’s elite club competition against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night as one of very few players who has outperformed Watkins since September 2023 arrives at Villa Park in Harry Kane.
On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football program this week there was a segment on Cole Palmer and the impact the youngster has had since signing for Chelsea.
To support the point, a graphic was used showing the players with the most goal involvements in Europe’s top five leagues since Palmer’s Chelsea debut in September last year.
One fan posted this on X with the caption: “Ollie Watkins is unbelievable. Look at the names UNDERNEATH him.”
This showed that Bayern Munich’s Kane is top with 49, with Palmer second on 43.
Those two were followed by Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, on 39 and 37 respectively, before Watkins in fifth on 37.
This puts Watkins ahead of the likes of Robert Lewandowksi, Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka and Vinicius Junior, highlighting just how impressive the 28-year-old has been.
Jhon Duran should push Watkins on at Aston Villa
After Duran netted three winners in the first four Premier League games of the season, Watkins may have started to worry about his starting spot.
However, Emery has stuck with the former Brentford striker and this should continue against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Any concerns that Watkins could become a victim of complacency have been put to bed by the form of Duran, with the Colombian sure to believe he should be ahead of Watkins in the pecking order.
This should only make Watkins better and he will himself be eyeing displacing Kane as the starting centre-forward for England.
