Ollie Watkins admits Newcastle star is an ‘unbelievable’ player despite 4-1 thrashing by Aston Villa

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Ollie Watkins stole the show on Saturday as Aston Villa recorded a resounding 4-1 win over Newcastle.

The Villans moved to within just two points of the Magpies in the Premier League table thanks to goals from the England international, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana and an own goal by Dan Burn.

It was a terrific team performance – one Unai Emery will be proud of – but Watkins truly stole the show.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	32	23	7	2	74	31	43	76
2	ArsenalArsenal	32	17	12	3	57	27	30	63
3	NewcastleNewcastle	33	18	5	10	62	44	18	59
4	Man CityManchester City	33	17	7	9	64	42	22	58
5	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	32	17	6	9	51	38	13	57
6	Aston VillaAston Villa	33	16	9	8	53	47	6	57

The Aston Villa No.11 received the Player of the Match award after tormenting Newcastle, scoring within the first 35 seconds while also grabbing the assist for Maatsen’s goal.

Despite causing Newcastle some serious trouble – moving onto 15 Premier League goals for the season too – Ollie Watkins still found time to praise a Newcastle defender in Fabian Schar.

Ollie Watkins calls Fabian Schar “unbelievable”

The 29-year-old scored his opener via a deflection off the Switzerland international, and also got him booked after a clever, darting run in behind, but is still an admirer of his talents.

Watkins, who even Newcastle fans praised, told Sky Sports: “We knew Newcastle were going to go man-for-man. For me personally, I like it when teams do that because you’re one-v-one, you’re going to have a lot of duels and I think I got the better of Schar today and gave him a tough time. 

“He’s an unbelievable defender but today was my day.”

Interestingly, Schar did not win a single duel at Villa Park up against Watkins – on the ground or aerially – having attempted five, while the Aston Villa striker also hit the woodwork twice, on a day where he did not give Newcastle a second to breathe.

Ollie Watkins sends message to Unai Emery amid Arsenal links

The Torquay-born striker also made it explicitly clear during his interview with Sky Sports that he was “fuming” at Emery, after being left out of the starting XI in both legs against PSG.

These comments come at an interesting time as he approaches his thirties.

Reports suggest Watkins still wants to join Arsenal after a January bid from the Gunners – who he has admitted to supporting – so the decision from Emery to start Rashford in both legs against PSG, a player who is only on loan from Manchester United, was quite telling in regards to how the Spaniard views his striking options.

Therefore, should Aston Villa opt to trigger their £40m option to buy Rashford this summer, it could nudge Watkins a little closer to Arsenal.