Aston Villa v Arsenal: Ollie Watkins sets targets to do even better than last term

The England international striker came within one goal of becoming the first Villa player since Peter Withe in 1981 to score 20 in a top-flight campaign, falling agonisingly short as he failed to net in his last five Premier League appearances.

Watkins is eager to put that right this time around as he looks to build on the best – and longest – season of his career to date, which only concluded with last month’s Euro 2024 final.

“I want more goals and more assists,” replied Watkins, when asked about his aims for the season. “For a team, collectively, to try to finish where we did last season or better. Those are always the goals.

“I was dying to get 20 goals (in the league) last year and that is when I did my knee a little bit, dying to get that goal at the end of the season.

“It didn’t quite happen but there is always another season. I am fully focused on achieving that but also helping the rest of the team.”

While he might have fallen short of 20 league goals, Watkins did not so much surpass his previous goalscoring records for Villa as blow them out of the water.

He finished with 28 goals in all competitions, including two hat-tricks, while he also claimed the Premier League’s playmaker of the year award after setting up 13 for his team-mates.

Watkins’ final goal of the campaign, meanwhile, may well come to be remembered as the most famous of his career, a last-gasp Euro 2024 semi-final winner for England against the Netherlands.

That moment was barely six weeks ago but the 28-year-old, who described his summer break as having been “short but sweet” is already focused on what comes next.

“I am one who is always striving for more and pushing to move on to the next thing,” he explained. “As much as it (the Euros) was nice for me, I am always looking on.

“That goal against the Netherlands has given me more confidence but across the season I had been doing that and it was just about having the opportunity to showcase what I can do.

“But the Villa fans had been seeing that across the whole of last season.”

The most recent occasion was at the Emirates Stadium back in April when Watkins scored Villa’s second in a 2-0 win, his most recent Premier League goal.

Arguably the most impressive result of Unai Emery’s reign to date, it was the victory which kept Villa ahead of the chasing pack in the race for Champions League football and denied Arsenal the Premier League title.

Nowhere near so much feels at stake tomorrow, just a week into the new season, with both teams having kicked off with a win.