Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins has hit back at Troy Deeney

Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins laughs at Troy Deeney v Arsenal after what he said live on talkSPORT

Tue 16 April 2024 8:10, UK

Ollie Watkins has aimed a new dig at Troy Deeney following the 2-0 Aston Villa win against Arsenal after he was critical of his recent performances live on air.

Deeney was speaking live on talkSPORT [27 March] as he insisted he would include Ivan Toney in his England squad ahead of Watkins, insisting the Villa man is “a winger trying to be a striker.”

The forward scored Villa’s second goal of the game on 14 April as Unai Emery’s side took all three points from the Emirates with a 2-0 win despite recording just 0.94 xG. [Sofascore]

Watkins bit back on his Instagram story following his goal in the victory as he wrote: “Not bad for a winger trying to be a striker” with a shushing emoji directed at Deeney after his comments.

Ollie Watkins bites back at Troy Deeney in Aston Villa win v Arsenal

What better way is there to hit back at your critics than to score a beautiful goal in a 2-0 win away from home against title challengers? Watkins’ display proved Deeney wrong once more with his goal providing the cherry on top.

That second goal, a chipped effort over David Raya came from his first shot on target of the game having previously fired three efforts off target and hitting the post with another and he looked to finally find his range late on. [Sofascore]

His form in front of goal was on top of an impressive all-around display in which the striker recorded two key passes, won four of his six attempted ground duels, drew two fouls, made two tackles and recorded a 73 per cent pass accuracy as he gave the Arsenal defenders plenty of problems.