LONDON – Ollie Watkins “let his football do the talking” by grabbing a goal and two assists, as Aston Villa thrashed lowly Sheffield United 5-0 at Bramall Lane on Feb 3 to climb to fourth in the English Premier League standings.
Unai Emery’s side, who won for only the second time in six league games, have 46 points, two above Tottenham Hotspur.
“We came into the game with the mindset that we had to win second balls and fight for everything and then let our football to do the talking. We had a good start and I think we killed them off in the first half. And that gave us a bit of comfort,” Watkins told Sky Sports.
The bottom-placed Blades – whose 59 goals conceded are the most by a Premier League team at this point of the season – have 10 points, and are 10 points below the safety zone.
John McGinn opened the floodgates for Villa in the 12th minute, when Watkins’ shot came off the post and the Scot was there for a simple tap-in.
There was more misery to come with Watkins, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans scoring to give Villa a commanding 4-0 lead at half-time.
“I’m happy because before the match we were very focused to react,” Emery told the BBC.
“We scored goals, created chances and stopped them. Winning away is difficult. We have to try to focus each match. We’re really happy. Our aggression was fantastic.”
Hundreds of home fans had already left by the time Alex Moreno took advantage of some careless defending less than two minutes after the restart, when Watkins lifted a cross into the box and the unmarked Spaniard smashed in a volley.
Watkins is the first Premier League player to achieve both double digits in goals, with 11, and assists (10) this season.
“It’s not a bad night for me, to be honest. It was massive that we bounced back after a disappointing result against Newcastle United (3-1 loss on Jan 30),” said Watkins, who took a pinpoint pass from Douglas Luiz for his goal in the 16th minute.
Sheffield manager Chris Wilder said he and his team “have to apologise to our supporters”.
“For our 30,000 Sheffield United supporters, it wasn’t good enough,” Wilder said.
“Myself and my players have got to accept that responsibility. We have got well and truly taken to the cleaners, 4-0 down after 30 minutes there was never a chance of us getting back into the game,” he added.
“It is not a nice feeling, there is no hiding place, for a manager – I am stood in that technical area for about 95 minutes but it felt like about three weeks – and for the players who are out there.”
Meanwhile, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe hopes Anthony Gordon does not join the long list of absentees at St James’ Park, after the winger left the stadium on crutches following their 4-4 draw against Luton Town.
The 22-year-old, the Magpies’ joint second-highest scorer (seven) behind Swedish forward Alexander Isak (10) in the top flight this season, was taken off at half-time due to an apparent ankle injury.
Newcastle are already without mainstays Isak, Brazilian midfielder Joelinton, goalkeeper Nick Pope and others through injury.
Howe said he did not know how serious the injury was. He said: “We hope it’s not bad. He’s such an important player for us and we missed him when he went off.”
REUTERS
