Robbie Fowler blown away by what he saw Watkins do v Liverpool – ‘Brilliant’
Aston Villa secured a 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Wednesday with Ollie Watkins playing a starring role.
The Villans had given away an easy goal to Mohamed Salah but goals from Youri Tielemans and the Englishman completely flipped the contest.
Watkins played the ball to Lucas Digne and drifted into the penalty area unmarked to head home and put Villa into the lead.
The B6 outfit were undone by a wonderful Trent Alexander-Arnold strike but were the better side and were unlucky not to come away with three points.
Watkins goal astonishes Robbie Fowler v Liverpool
The goal by the England star left Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler stunned as Villa turned around the game in the final stages of the first half.
Speaking on TNT Sports (19 February, 20:27), he said: “The centre-forward play by Watkins is brilliant.
“That is what you want a centre-forward to do. You want him to go and link up play but then you want him to have the aptitude and desire to get in the box and finish it off and he has done that.”
Ollie Watkins is Aston Villa number one after Duran exit
There is no doubt that Ollie Watkins is Aston Villa’s number-one option in the number nine role after Jhon Duran departed to Al-Nassr in a mega deal.
The Three Lions star has notched 13 goals and five assists in 25 Premier League matches but had fallen down the pecking order before the Colombian attacker was sold.
Arsenal failed with a late bid for Watkins in the winter transfer window and he has proved how important he is to Unai Emery’s side with his latest goal.
| Stats | Watkins v Liverpool |
| Goals | 1 |
| Expected Goals | 0.24 |
| Touches in opposition box | 2 |
| Passes into final third | 1 |
| Recoveries | 3 |
Marcus Rashford had been floated as a potential threat to the former Brentford forward’s status but he is better on the wing as evidence by the terrorising of Alexander-Arnold in this contest.
The 29-year-old has clearly emerged as the best option to lead the line for Unai Emery and has repaid the Spaniard’s faith in him with his latest exploits against the champions-elect.
Whether his goals will be enough for the Villans to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive season remains to be seen but the defence needs to be tighter if they are to do so.