Dean Smith says Aston Villa have an ‘excellent’ player in their ranks who’s ‘hungry’ and tireless

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Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has waxed lyrical about Ollie Watkins for his goalscoring efforts over the past few weeks.

The 25-year-old endured a seven-match goal drought in the Premier League between mid-February and mid-March.

However, he has netted in each of his last three matches, including last month’s debut strike for England against San Marino.

Watkins’ tally for the campaign now stands at 15 in all competitions for club and country.

Smith felt the striker’s all-round performance in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Liverpool in particular marked a return to form.

“Ollie has never lacked for motivation,” the Villa boss is quoted by the Express & Star as saying. “His chief motivation is to score goals for Villa.

“He is a hungry boy in terms of goalscoring and he will want to keep doing that.

“I thought his all-round performance on Saturday was excellent. There have probably been three or four games where he has probably not been at the top of his game.

“On Saturday he was much more like himself. He took his goal really well, a great finish and worked tirelessly up front. I was really pleased for him.”

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Just six years ago, Watkins was in the Conference South with Weston-super-Mare, while four years ago, he was playing in League Two.

Now, he is a prolific Premier League scorer and England international – and given his talent and attitude, he’s sure to go even further.