Martin Keown wowed by Aston Villa ‘nightmare’ Ollie Watkins as Match of the Day air footage v Burnley
Having gone two games without a win in the Premier League, Aston Villa picked up a vital three points with a late 3-2 win over Burnley to reignite their Champions League hopes.
First-half strikes from Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby had given Unai Emery’s side a 2-1 lead at the break, but a second-half Lyle Foster strike meant Villa were forced to rely on an 89th-minute penalty from Douglas Luiz to claim all three points.
It was far from a perfect afternoon for the home side and they should have won much more convincingly, considering much of the second half was played against 10 men, but Martin Keown was impressed by Ollie Watkins’ display in particular.
Speaking on Match of the Day (30 December, 16:00) he said: “Some strikers need to know that they’re the number one striker and he without doubt is that player. His intelligence of his movement now, his technique. He stays very central, he doesn’t really wander too much out wide.
“He always likes to attack in behind, he’s a nightmare to play against. Threatening all the time gives them that option when he can go in behind. It’s really difficult to defend against because he drags the opposition defence all the way back.”
Watkins may not have got on the scoresheet against Burnley, but he was integral to the win, picking up two assists in the clash for both Bailey and Diaby’s goals with two excellent passes into the box [Fotmob].
The 28-year-old only had 24 touches in the clash but managed to make every single one of them count. Eight of those came in the opposition area and he managed to complete 72 per cent of his 18 attempted passes.
Perhaps most impressively, three of those passes managed to create chances for his teammates, meaning that 23 per cent of all of Watkins’ completed passes led to a genuine goalscoring chance for his teammates.
As Keown suggested, however, Watkins’ best asset is his pace and direct running style in behind defences. His ability to get beyond a backline and into the opposition’s final third makes him such a threat.
That knack for beating the offside trap has helped him sit in the 99th percentile of Premier League strikers for goal-creating actions per 90 minutes this season and the 96th for assists per game [Fbref].
Watkins’ movement in behind the Burnley defence played a huge part in Bailey’s opener as the Aston Villa striker spun behind the Burnley defence to latch onto a long pass from Diego Carlos.
Having managed to chase down the pass towards the corner flag, the 28-year-old then has the composure to hold the ball up and drift towards the penalty area to allow those around him to make their way into the opposition’s box.
By running so close to the goalline originally, Watkins forces the entire Burnley defence towards their own goal allowing himself space to run into the penalty area and leaving Bailey plenty of room to drop backwards and take time over his shot.
Having initially been the only player to make the quick break beyond the backline, by the time Bailey shapes to shoot, four players have made their way beyond the Aston Villa forward, making Watkins’ movement and the space it creates around him a “nightmare” to defend.
Watkins’ electric pace and composure are what allow him to create so many high-value chances for his teammates week in and week out. So far this season he has picked up nine goals and eight assists in 20 Premier League matches.
While that seems only natural from a player that sits in the top one per cent of forwards for goal-creating actions per match, the Aston Villa star places in the bottom 64 per cent of his peers for shot-creating actions and the bottom 14 per cent for passes into the final third per 90 minutes.
Watkins doesn’t create too many clear-cut chances for his teammates in a game, but when he does, they almost always lead to a goal and that ruthlessness is what makes him so difficult to defend against as Keown suggested.
In other Aston Villa news, Alex Moreno’s first-half performance against Burnley left Steve Sidwell stunned live on air