Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins must shut Troy Deeney up again as he continues recent argument
Troy Deeney and Ollie Watkins had been involved in a back-and-forth either side of the Aston Villa win against Arsenal, and the Birmingham City fan is showing no signs of backing down.
The initial claim from Deeney was that Watkins is a winger trying to be a striker, insisting he would rather take Ivan Toney to the European Championships this summer.
Villa’s striker then hit back after his goal against Arsenal with a message via his Instagram which read: “Not bad for a winger trying to be a striker” alongside a shushing emoji.
Now, Deeney has continued the debate as he insisted nothing he said was wrong, joking that he must have been the first thing on Villa fans’ minds despite a massive victory at the Emirates.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [18 April], Deeny shared: “It’s not a negative. When you look at Exeter, where did he play? On the left. Where did he play at Brentford? On the left. He’s only played as a striker this season for Villa.
“The thing is, everyone seems to think I have this vendetta. The thing that I find funny is you’ve just beaten Arsenal in a massive game and you want to talk about me. No one can say what I’m saying is wrong.
“I think his natural position is on the left. If you look, this season is a one-off. I don’t have anything negative against Villa. I’m a Birmingham City fan and it pains me to say it but Villa have been good.”
Ollie Watkins must prove Troy Deeney wrong for Aston Villa
The first part of Watkins’ job was done as he wiped Deeney’s smile off of his face with a late goal to make it 2-0 against Arsenal, but ahead of the Premier League clash with Bournemouth, he must be prepared to do it again.
In the Arsenal win, Watkins scored 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.
However, a lacklustre display against Lille saw him fail to take a single shot and record a zero per cent dribble success rate, a zero per cent cross success rate and win just one of eight aerial duels in a frustrating performance. [Sofascore]
His 93 per cent pass success rate was a strong point, but his lack of service and struggles in the final third were made clear.
Watkins must now bounce back from that disappointment when Villa face Bournemouth both in an effort to strengthen his England bid and to prove Deeney wrong once more and put an end to their ongoing debate.
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery was left “fuming” by what happened v Lille.
For more Aston Villa news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.