Relentless Ollie Watkins praised as he closes in on Aston Villa record

The England international volleyed in the leveller to complete a stunning turnaround as Unai Emery’s team fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium.

Watkins has now hit double figures in five consecutive top flight seasons and needs just six more to overtake Gabriel Agbonlahor as Villa’s all-time Premier League top scorer.

The England international last month admitted to having found the season tough but with three goals in his last four league matches appears to be getting back towards his best.

Tielemans, who got Villa’s comeback started with a diving header, says team-mates can always depend on Watkins to put his chances away.

He said: “I think he wasn’t 100 per cent fit at the start of the season and maybe that’s why he got a bit frustrated because he always wants to do well and help the team. 

“But once he got scoring, the goals are going to come with him because he will get those chances and he’s going to put them in.

“He’s always there to bury them and that’s what we want from him. He wants to score, be important for the team and this season he’s done that again.”

Saturday’s draw made it four points from two away matches in the space of 72 hours for Villa and kept them firmly in the hunt for a top-five finish.

Emery’s men now head to Monaco on Tuesday in the Champions League and Tielemans says qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition is again their primary aim this season.

“For sure. That’s the ambition,” he said. “That’s why we are trying to push and be consistent and hopefully get more positive results.

“The competitiveness this season is very high. I think we can see week-in and week-out there are surprising results away and at home so we just need to stay consistent and get as many good results as we can.

“We try to be more consistent away from home and we know we have to work at that. We know at home we are having good results but away from home we know we have to work on that. But this week we’ve done good.”

Goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz appeared to have Arsenal cruising to victory before Tielemans and Watkins scored in the space of eight second half minutes.

“Everyone thought it was done when Arsenal scored the second goal, they played really good to be fair to them,” said Tielemans. 

“We just tried to keep our heads to counter sometimes when we could and to try and nick a goal which we did.

“It shows our character, mentality and the way we don’t give up as a team.”