WE THREE KINS

Ollie reopened the floodgates for Villa goals and claims tide has turned in his battle to sink Salah & Haaland

REJUVENATED Ollie Watkins wants to outgun Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland and fire Aston Villa into the Champions League.

The 28-year-old England striker had endured a six-match goal drought as Unai Emery’s men won just once in five Premier League games. But Watkins ended his barren run in last Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat by Newcastle and he was on the scoresheet again at rockbottom Sheffield United.

He has beaten Salah and Haaland in becoming the first player to reach double figures for both goals (11) and assists (10) in the Premier League this season.

Watkins said: “Obviously it’s nice to be among the top names and top players in the league. We’ve got a lot of games and a lot of football to play but I’m pushing to remain up there at the end of the season.

“There was a spell when I felt as a team we were slightly off it – and I maybe suffered from that because we weren’t creating too much. But we’ve had a positive reaction to the loss in midweek against Newcastle and now we’re back firing again.”

Watkins certainly looked back to his very best in cutting the Blades to pieces. When Douglas Luiz played him through early on, Watkins hit the post and Villa captain John Mcginn tapped in the rebound.

Another delightful pass from Luiz allowed Watkins to fire home a second before stunning strikes from Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemens made it 4-0 after 30 minutes. Alex Moreno added a fifth after the break.

Watkins revealed how staying positive helped him through his recent struggles. He said: “It’s very hard when you don’t score for two or three games but you’ve got to be ready for the chance and opportunity when it does come. When Dougie played me those two balls through I was licking my lips!

“I was unlucky with the first one, it just hit the post when it could have gone in. But I kept going and he found me again with the second one – that was the pass of the season.”

Watkins aims to make Gareth

Southgate’s England squad at

Euro 2024 this summer, but his first objective is qualifying for the

Champions

League with

Villa.

Although many hadwritten off their title hopes following that recent poor run, Emery’s men jumped above Tottenham and back into the top four. Watkins said: “People are very fickle within football. We lost against Newcastle after a 17-match unbeaten home run and there’s a lot of negative talk. But then they drew today and we won so it changed again. At the start of the season, when they beat us 5-1, there was a big uproar and the fans were going mad and the press were talking a lot about it.

“But I think they lost the next three games and we won the next four – that’s how quickly football changes.”

Villa boss Emery hailed Watkins for his performance. “Ollie Watkins is a player with high commitment to the club and his work,” he said.

“His behaviour is completely focused on football, Aston Villa and his will to win. His desire to improve is a very good example for everybody.

“The result is his performance on the pitch – he is scoring goals, creating chances, and making assists.”

“Even in the recent match at Everton, he had four very good possibilities to score and was not clinical.

“But it was good work. This is the way is to be consistent; to be very demanding every day.”