Garth Crooks has included Ollie Watkins in his Team of the Week following his performance and goal against Bournemouth this weekend.
The result didn’t go the way that Aston Villa wanted but on reflection, it was a well-earned point against a good team away from home.
Against a Bournemouth side on the rise, Unai Emery’s side had to come back from behind twice to grab a point late on in the game.
Antoine Semenyo and Dominic Solanke put the Cherries in the lead, not once but twice with two well-taken goals.
With Leon Bailey scoring a great goal, complemented by a top-class Ollie Watkins header, the Villans grabbed a point and ran.
The Englishman assisted Bailey and scored himself which was enough to see him included in Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week.
What has Garth Crooks said about Ollie Watkins?
As he does every week, Crooks has created his team in his BBC article where he has singled Watkins out for praise.
Although the Villans didn’t pick up the result they wanted, it is safe to say that Watkins still performed well and dragged his side to a point.
Commenting on Watkins first, Crooks said: “I saw Watkins score a hat-trick against Brighton and every goal was either scuffed or a mishit. Of course, as long as the ball ends up in the back of the net, the striker couldn’t care less.”
It is true that his goals against Brighton were quite scrappy but as Crooks said, he won’t care. Considering he has eight goals this season in the Premier League alone, the scrappy-ness doesn’t matter.
In changing his tune about the Englishman, Crooks spoke out about the quality that his header showed against the Cherries.
On that, he said: “His goal against Bournemouth was a sensational header. The ball was behind him but the England international worked so hard to position his body in order to direct the ball goalward and got his reward with a superb equaliser with minutes left to play.”
The flicked header was top-class and left Neto in goal with no chance of keeping it out. Given the moment in the game and the pressure on the moment, it just makes it even better. The fact that he became one of just four players to register six g/a’s in consecutive seasons.
Watkins has been in top form this campaign and has continued his excellent form under Emery from last season. These kinds of chances are ones that he needed to add to his repertoire and if he can, he will become closer to an elite Premier League force.
