Unai Emery pays special tribute to Aston Villa matchwinner Ollie Watkins

Watkins netted for the ninth time in the Premier League this season as Villa made it three wins on the spin in 2025 and snapped a five-match losing run on the road.

The England international, who kept his place in the starting XI despite Jhon Duran being back available following suspension, shot wide when through on goal in the first half.

But he made no mistake five minutes into the second period when he slotted home from Morgan Rogers’ pass.

Emery said: “Ollie always responds on the field, sometimes not with goals but always with his work. 

“Today he did it and he had a good chance in the first half but he kept going. He then scored a fantastic goal. 

“The strikers have to score and they have to try to be offensively close to our attack to score goals or get assists. 

“We’re happy because his work is fantastic to be able to always come back, to fight for the second action from another player. It is good because we won and it is good as well because he scored.”

Villa’s win made it six unbeaten at Goodison Park in what is likely to be the last match they played at the famous old ground.

Emery’s men also kept their first away clean sheet of the season with Dominic Calvert-Lewin blazing a golden chance to level over the bar in stoppage time.

“We are conceding a lot of goals. More than normal. I don’t know exactly why," said Emery. "Sometimes we make mistakes or because the opponent is better than us. 

“Sometimes we are weak defensively. Today we showed that we are stronger than normal and in the last matches we played away. Through this clean sheet, it is the first objective.”