Ollie Watkins is flying but incredible defensive stats are going under the radar

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Ollie Watkins is looking fantastic this season but his defensive stats are a little overshadowed. The Aston Villa forward is flying right now.

Ollie Watkins has great stats right now, no matter where you look. His six goals in seven Premier League games top the lot, of course, with his one assist taking his contributions to one per game.

For a 24-year-old in his first Premier League season, that’s quite fantastic. We have to wait and see if he can keep that going all season but things are incredibly impressive right now.

But his attacking talents are perhaps overshadowing his defensive work – he’s a league-leader in that regard, too.

Only Mohamed Salah has pressed more in the attacking third this season, per FBref. And that’s particularly notable as Salah has played a game more. Watkins should at least catch up once he’s played as many matches.

But not only that, Watkins’ success rate with his pressing – how many times they result in Villa getting the ball back – is fantastic. Of all the players pressing the most in the attacking third, only Salah has a better success rate in the top 30.

Watkins wins tackles and interceptions of his own, too. He has 14 combined, three more than Salah and five more than Roberto Firmino – a player known for doing it and who has played the same number of games.

Watkins, then, currently looks like a fantastic all-around forward. He can lead the line with his goalscoring but also without the ball, showing a greater willingness to press than any other striker.