Unai Emery hopes Ollie Watkins’ first-half brace in a thrilling 4-3 comeback win at Brighton can kickstart a return to goalscoring form.
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery hopes striker Ollie Watkins’ first-half brace in the thrilling 4-3 comeback victory over Brighton can spur a return to consistent goalscoring form, according to a report from the Express & Star.
The high-flying Villa soared to third place in the Premier League table after overturning a two-goal deficit at the Amex Stadium, registering their eighth victory in nine top-flight outings.
Forward Watkins, who was recalled as part of five changes from the 1-0 win over Wolves, had gone 11 games without a goal before trebling his tally for the season.
His brace—cancelling out Jan Paul van Hecke’s strike and a Pau Torres own goal—contributed to the comeback, alongside goals from Amadou Onana and substitute Donyell Malen. The England international now boasts nine career goals in 10 appearances against Brighton.
Emery, while supportive, stressed the need for consistency, stating: “With Ollie, he’s giving me confidence always when he’s working, when he’s focusing on the match, like he was doing.
Not scoring, sometimes the confidence is getting low but the goals are coming. Today he started it and hopefully he can keep now the balance between working and getting numbers.”
The visitors were also forced into a late change before kick-off when first-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez withdrew injured during the warm-up, feeling “blocked in his back.”
Back-up keeper Marco Bizot was thrust into action and, despite being at fault for the first goal, redeemed himself with a “fantastic” added-time save to keep out Danny Welbeck’s header.
Brighton slipped to seventh position after the defeat, ending their 10-match unbeaten home record.