Ollie Watkins declares panic over as Aston Villa get back on track
Ollie Watkins called on Villa to pay the doubters no attention after Saturday’s 5-0 win at Sheffield United sent them back into the Premier League top four.
Watkins was one of five players on the scoresheet as Unai Emery’s men recorded the club’s biggest away top-flight win since 2008.
It came after a run of just one win in five league games and a 3-1 home defeat to Newcastle which had some questioning their ability to stay in the race for a Champions League place.
Watkins felt the performance at Bramall Lane was the perfect response and said: “People are very fickle within football. We lost against Newcastle after a 17-match unbeaten home run and there’s a lot of negative talk. But then they drew on Saturday and we won and it changed again.
“At the start of the season when they (Newcastle) beat us 5-1 there was a big uproar and the fans were going mad and the press were talking a lot about it. But I think they lost the next three games and we won the next four games – that’s how quickly football changes.
“We’ve got a lot of football still to go. We’re just focusing on ourselves and trying to win every game.”
Watkins’ goal was his 11th in the league this season and he also set up two more, making him the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to hit double figures in both goals and assists this term.
His 16th-minute strike was set up by Douglas Luiz, with Watkins later branding the Brazilian’s through-ball the “pass of the season”.
Villa had scored just two goals in their previous four matches but matched the total inside the opening half-hour at Bramall Lane with John McGinn, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans also on target.
Alex Moreno then volleyed home a Watkins cross early in the second half to complete the scoring.
“There was a spell (recently) when I felt as a team we were slightly off it – and me personally maybe suffered from that because we weren’t creating too much,” said Watkins.
“But we’ve had a positive reaction to a loss in midweek and now we’re back firing again.
“It’s just a positive mindset, keep going. It’s very hard when you don’t score for two or three games and you’ve got to be ready for the chance when it does come. When Dougie played me those two balls through, I was licking my lips!
“I was unlucky with the first one, it just hit the post when it could have gone in. But I kept going and he found me again with the second one – that was definitely the pass of the season.”
