Revealed: What Unai Emery told Ollie Watkins behind the scenes at Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Unai Emery’s behind-the-scenes pep talk with Ollie Watkins could be what has inspired the Aston Villa striker’s current goalscoring form, according to Alan Hutton.
Since the World Cup break ended, 27-year-old Watkins has scored 12 goals in 16 Premier League appearances whereas before it, the ex-Brentford striker scored just twice in 14 outings.
Emery replaced Steven Gerrard in charge at Villa Park in the autumn and Hutton believes the Spaniard’s approach towards Watkins has changed things massively.
Speaking to Villa News, Hutton said: “Emery’s told him to be the striker and to be the number nine playing within the width of the box.
“He doesn’t need to be out chasing and trying to assist by crossing the ball into the box.
“If you look at all the players around him, it’s as if they know when he makes that run to give him the ball.
“You’ve seen it in the first minute of the Newcastle game when he made a run in behind and hit the post.
“That set the tone for Aston Villa early on so I think he’s just concentrating on making those intelligent runs and letting players find him instead of wasting energy doing something different he doesn’t need to do.
“He doesn’t need to tackle a full-back or run down the line and cross the ball in.
“He’s the main guy.
“I think that’s the main difference. The manager will have just said to play in the box, play to your strengths and you’ll get goals.”
Watkins bagged his first brace of the season in Villa’s 3-0 win over Newcastle on Saturday (15 April) but he was unlucky to have not had a hat-trick when he has another goal disallowed for a marginal offside.
The striker also assisted Jacob Ramsey’s goal.
Next up for Villa is a trip to London to play Brentford, who are without a win in five games.
In other Aston Villa news, we can exclusively reveal that Manchester United are set to sign this highly-rated Villa player.