Ollie Watkins Spearheading Aston Villa's Resurgence Under Unai Emery

Erling Haaland’s stratospheric numbers aside, the Premier League goalscoring charts belong to England this season. Harry Kane and Ivan Toney have picked up from where they left off last campaign to make up the top three. But one man who’s steadily climbing the rankings is Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins. 

Since Unai Emery took over at Villa Park in October 2022, no Premier League player has had more goal contributions (16). But despite that, Watkins really didn’t get going until the new year. In 2023, no player in Europe’s top-five leagues has contributed to more goals (14), and after netting in his fourth consecutive game for the second time in three months, a new contract is reportedly on the horizon. 

They say stats don’t tell the whole story, but with a record like Watkins’, there’s no denying the impact he’s had since Emery’s arrival. Villa have dragged themselves out of a relegation scrap and into European contention in a matter of months, thrashing Newcastle 3-0 via a brace from Watkins and a goal from Jacob Ramsey before drawing 1-1 to Brentford at the weekend with Ivan Toney opening the scoring and Douglas Luiz equalizing in the 87th minute for Villa, who have not lost since February 18 when they suffered a 4-2 defeat to Arsenal.

Watkins has credited Emery for his improvement, citing a focus on being more ruthless in his pursuit of goals. Whilst his cushioned assist to Ramsey helped open the scoring against Newcastle, Watkins has moved away from trying to create chances for others. By playing more narrowly, he is using his pace in behind to act as the focal point of the attack rather than chasing balls into the channels.