Unai Emery, manager of Aston Villa, has stated that striker Ollie Watkins has pleased him in training this week.
Emery was speaking to the club’s official website following the club’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
On Sunday, Aston Villa added to Mauricio Pochettino’s anguish by failing to score yet again.
A red card for Malo Gusto in the second half shifted the tide in favour of the visitors.
Ollie Watkins scored his first league goal of the season on the second attempt, beating Robert Sanchez.
This season, the £28 million England international has been far better at creating chances for his teammates than he has been at scoring them.
He’s already had a handful of assists and scored a hat-trick against Hibernian in Europa Conference League qualifying.
Emery has recently stated that he has been highly impressed with Watkins’ performance in training.
The centre-forward has finally put his dismal run behind him, and his behind-the-scenes work appears to be paying off.
“Always we need the goals of our strikers, and I’m very happy with him because he’s always trying to be committed with his teammates,” Emery said after the game.
“His behaviour every day is very good and he was practising a lot and trying to get his best performances from the team.
“Today he scored and we’re very happy for him and for our victory.”
Watkins was replaced in the closing minutes by Jhon Duran, who appears to be an interesting deputy to the team.
Watkins, on the other hand, is Emery’s first-choice striker and will be relieved that his good efforts in training have translated into league goals.
The irony is that Watkins’s opponents are desperate for goals and have been linked with him.
Given how much they’ve spent under Todd Boehly’s ownership, Villa would almost certainly want a high price for Watkins’ head.
It’s unclear whether they’d even contemplate selling him, given his status with the Aston Villa team.
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