Aston Villa: Sky Sports pundit amazed by Ollie Watkins v Bournemouth, nothing left to prove
Ollie Watkins may not have been on the scoresheet in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth, but he more than played his part for Aston Villa.
The England international added two more assists to his collection, making it 12 for the season in the Premier League to go with his 19 goals.
Those 31 direct-goal involvements are now the most of any player in the division this season, two more than Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.
Ollie Watkins on verge of making Aston Villa history
Indeed, Watkins is only the ninth English player to score or assist 30-plus goals in a 38-game season in the competition.
Those 12 assists he has registered, meanwhile, have been bettered by only one Villa player in a single season – Ashley Young with 14 in 2007-08.
Courtney Sweetman-Kirk summed up the in-form attacker’s display perfectly for Sky Sports News, as shared via their X account [21 April].
“Ollie Watkins in particular has been fantastic today,” she said. “All of his build-up play, dropping in to make it work, the link-up, the assist.”
As a reminder, Troy Deeney seemingly tried to take a swipe at Watkins recently by saying he is “a winger trying to be a striker”.
Whether a winger, a striker, a false nine or a false 10 – whatever term you want to use – Watkins really is world-class right now.
The 28-year-old is scoring at a rate of 0.61 goals per 90 minutes, which is almost double that of two seasons ago (0.34) [FBref].
Ollie Watkins matching Manchester City’s Erling Haaland
If Watkins had anything to prove to anyone – and he doesn’t – then he is going the right way about doing it.
Watkins had two shots – one on target – created two key chances and completed 91 per cent of his passes against Bournemouth [WhoScored].
The Villa favourite found a colleague from 29 out of 32 passes in total [Sofascore] as he produced a masterclass in how to link up play in the final third.
And for those who do still question Watkins’ record in front of goal, his conversion rate now stands at 24 per cent [BBC Sport].
For context, that is exactly the same as Erling Haaland and better than Mohamed Salah (23 per cent).
Watkins really is a class above and proving any remaining doubters wrong with each passing week.
In other Aston Villa news, a fringe player will now have to step up against Olympiacos.
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