Ollie Watkins ‘pays the price’ in new blow despite ‘sensational’ Aston Villa reveal
Ollie Watkins has already been punished for his poor Aston Villa form this season according to Jamie Carragher.
Aston Villa take on Bournemouth at Villa Park on Sunday looking to climb from 12th into the European qualifying positions with a win, having put together a run of positive results in the league until Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 last week.
One of the main issues for Unai Emery this term is the lack of scoring from top striker Watkins, with the 29-year-old only having netted once in all competitions.
And Carragher has claimed his exclusion from Thomas Tuchel’s most recent England camp is the cause and effect.
Ollie Watkins left out by Thomas Tuchel after Aston Villa drought
Speaking to Mark Chapman live on Sky Sports Super Sunday the ex-Liverpool defender was asked if Watkins was in “one of those runs”.
He answered: “Yeah he is, and listen he’s paid the price with he’s not in the England squad is he? So that’ll be a blow for him as well.
“When you actually look at the team this season, I think there’s only two teams at the bottom of the Premier League who have scored less goals than Aston Villa, and that tells its own story.
“Their record at Villa Park is absolutely sensational, I think one defeat in the last 28 games in all competitions, so it’s definitely a fortress and it’ll be a tough game for Bournemouth.
“But they need to start scoring goals if they’re going to get anywhere near the success they’ve had in these last few years.”
Stats behind Ollie Watkins dismal season
Watkins has played 15 times in all competitions for Aston Villa this season and has found the net just once, in the 3-1 over Fulham 28 September.
After 17 last term, 27 the campaign before and 16 three seasons ago it is clearly a major drop off in recent months.
According to Sofascore stats he isn’t even getting into obvious scoring positions as his expected goals (xG) is just 1.74 in the Premier League.
He also hasn’t registered an assist in the top flight and is averaging just 1.4 shots per game, with only 0.3 of those on target, so his chances to score are minimal.
He has missed three big chances so his accuracy appears to be an issue and will need to improve against the Cherries to keep up Villa’s home record.
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