Why Ollie Watkins can break his Man United curse in crunch Aston Villa clash
Aston Villa travel to Old Trafford for a massive Premier League meeting with Manchester United on Sunday.
With huge Champions League qualification implications on the line on Sunday, Aston Villa take on Man United at the Theatre of Dreams.
Unai Emery‘s side have seen the wheels come off their Premier League campaign in recent weeks, with just one win in their last six league outings.
However, the Villans were able to get an important 1-0 away win over Lille in the first leg of their Europa League Round-of-16 tie on Thursday night, ahead of the return leg next Thursday at Villa Park.
- Read more: Jadon Sancho dreadful, Morgan Rogers talismanic again – Aston Villa player ratings vs Lille
Why are Man United Ollie Watkins’ bogey team?
For whatever reason, some players just don’t enjoy the best of luck when facing off against a certain opponent.
And, when it comes to the career of Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, that’s certainly the case for him and Man United.
Indeed, the 30-year-old centre-forward has played against the Red Devils 11 times in his Premier League career, but he’s never scored against them.
Watkins’ top-flight record against United stands at six defeats, two draws and three wins, but he does have two career assists in this fixture for Villa.
In fact, Watkins’ sole career goal against United across his 13 outings came in the League Cup, when he bagged in a 4-2 defeat in the third round of that competition back in the 2022-23 season.
So, will his Man United curse be lifted on Sunday at Old Trafford? Well, there’s certainly some reasons to believe it will be.
Why Watkins can break Man United hoodoo on Sunday
One of the first main reasons why he can get on the scoresheet against United this weekend was from his performance against Lille, where he scored with his only shot on target.
Watkins only saw 20 touches of the ball, but when his big opportunity finally arrived, he took it in the clinical fashion that’s seen him build a reputation as one of the Premier League’s top marksmen over the years.
On top of that, Michael Carrick is coming into the game off the back of suffering his first loss in his second spell as United’s caretaker manager, losing 2-1 to Newcastle on Wednesday night.
This could potentially have a snowball effect for him and his team, and Villa will no doubt have been buoyed for seeing that result.
Carrick is also dealing with an abundance of injuries in defence, with Matthijs de Ligt, Patrick Dorgu and Lisandro Martinez all sure to miss the game, whilst Noussair Mazraoui looks to be a 50/50 chance for Sunday.
United have only kept five clean sheets in the Premier League all season too, and are conceding an average of 1.4 goals per game, so all of this should have Watkins confident that he can finally find the net against the Red Devils on Sunday.
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