Watkins flourishing as Aston Villa's primary goal threat
Prior to the World Cup, Ollie Watkins had just two Premier League goals for Aston Villa to his name this season.
The former Brentford attacker, who had netted a combined 25 goals in his two full seasons in the English top-flight, was struggling to replicate the form that had seen him earn a place in the England team. And as a result of his poor run of form in front of goal, he missed out on Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the World Cup.
However, since returning to action following the mid-season break, Watkins has scored seven times across 11 Premier League appearances. In fact, he has six goals in his last seven outings for the Villans under new manager Unai Emery.
The 27-year-old scored in five successive matches - a club record - before blanking against Crystal Palace. But he did then open the scoring in the 1-1 draw with West Ham on Sunday. His performances saw him nominated as one of the candidates for the February Player of the Month award.
It has been something of a perfect storm for the versatile attacker.
The arrival of Emery gave this Villa side an identity, something they appeared to lack under predecessor Steven Gerrard. He would regularly change the shape or the starting XI and it must’ve been difficult for players to find a level of consistency.
Emery moved to his 4-4-2 shape - which can also be a 4-2-3-1 - and the decision to part ways with Danny Ings during the January transfer window rather emphatically answered the ‘who is the main striker at Aston Villa?’ question.
Watkins had a reliable platform and the decision to back him over Ings no doubt filled him with confidence, something all strikers rely heavily on.
It was also revealed that the seven-cap England international had been working closely with specialist finishing coach Scott Chickelday.
Chickelday has given an insight into the sort of thing he’s worked on with Watkins.
"I do not just focus on the misses, we want to repeat the ones they score too. But I build sessions around the areas they want to work on. Players are very honest. If you ask them what they want to improve, nine times out of 10 it is something I already have in mind.
"We work on a lot of repetition which players really seem to respond well to. If players are missing chances in certain situations, we try to recreate those moments just so that they can feel that repetition in those situations. It is about building up that confidence."
In some matches earlier in the season, Watkins was taking four or five shots and failing to hit the back of the net. For example, in the 0-0 with Leeds United the 27-year-old had six attempts, and hit the target on four occasions, but couldn’t add to his haul. It was just a combination of bad luck and low confidence at the time.
Over recent weeks, he’s been attempting fewer efforts, but his finishing has been much sharper. Against Arsenal, he had one shot and it was struck on his weaker left foot from an angle that did not favour the striker, yet it nestled into the bottom corner.
In the loss to Manchester City, Watkins, again, had just one shot.
And again, it didn’t exactly favour him. The angle was being closed down and he was being put under pressure from both sides. He caught Ederson off guard by taking on the effort so early though, and it was past the Brazilian shotstopper before he’d even had time to react.
These are the finishes of a man full of confidence.
Watkins is now on nine Premier League goals for the season. He has every opportunity to surpass the 14 he scored during his debut campaign with the club. That isn’t something many would’ve envisaged as domestic football came to a halt in November for the World Cup.
