Credit: Imago

Max Wilkins

Mon 6 April 2026 13:10, UK

Aston Villa will be hoping to see the best of Ollie Watkins when they face Bologna on Thursday.

Unai Emery is hopeful of continuing his Europa League heroics after reaching the quarter-finals of this year’s tournament.

The Villans breezed past Lille in the round of 16 and will be keen to do so again as they prepare for a trip to Italy.

Villa will face the Red and Blues for the second time this season, having already secured a 1-0 win in B6 earlier this campaign in the league phase.

Watkins won’t have fond memories of Bologna and has to exorcise the demons of Villa Park when travelling 817 miles to northern Italy.

Ollie Watkins missed penalty vs Bologna

The claret and blue outfit have gotten to know the Serie A side quite well in the past two seasons.

Bologna will have faced off with Emery four times by the time this season’s Europa League quarter-finals are over.

The Spaniard is yet to taste defeat, having won the previous two Villa Park outings in both the Champions League and Europa League.

The latest edition came in September, where an early John McGinn strike made the difference to secure a first win of the season in all competitions.

Watkins started on the bench and came on with 32 minutes to go, but wasn’t able to have any sort of impact.

He registered just one pass, with a 33 per cent accuracy rate, and failed to create a single chance on the day.

The England international was also dispossessed once and capped off his performance by winning and then missing a penalty.

His spot kick went low and central, leaving Bologna keeper Lukasz Skorupski to swipe the ball away with his feet.

Watkins has done himself no favours this season, so he needs to prove against Bologna why he deserves to start week in, week out.

Watkins must kick on for Aston Villa

It has been a frustrating few months for the striker, especially after so many years as a goalscoring force in claret and blue.

Against West Ham last time out, he looked more like his usual self as he got on the scoresheet with a poacher’s finish at the Holte End.

That came after four other attempts, while he also completed one dribble and won four duels against a physical Hammers back line.

It was a much-improved performance, and fans want to see more of it as the campaign moves towards the end.

Watkins needs to avenge his missed penalty against Bologna and start a run of form for the Villans.