Ollie Watkins personifies Aston Villa’s dramatic revival under Unai Emery

With so much focus on Brighton and Brentford this season, Aston Villa have crept quietly into the European places. The decision to sack Steven Gerrard and appoint Unai Emery as his successor has proven a masterstroke, with their resounding 3-0 win over Newcastle at the weekend even fuelling talk of a dramatic late surge for a top-four finish. It was their fifth win in a row – their best run in the Premier League since they did the same under John Gregory towards the end of the 1997-98 season.

Gregory took charge of Villa midway through that season and guided them to Europe. Emery might do the same. The Spaniard took the job at the start of November when the club sat 16th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone. Villa were at real risk of dropping back into the Championship even though they had invested £60m on Leander Dendoncker, Boubacar Kamara, Diego Carlos and Philippe Coutinho over the summer. Gerrard was unable to build a coherent team and they won just two of their first 11 matches.

The team has taken off under Emery, scoring in all 20 of his games go far. Striker Ollie Watkins epitomises their renaissance. Watkins struggled at the start of the season, scoring just two league goals prior to Emery’s appointment. Having reached double figures for league goals in his first two seasons at Villa, scoring 14 under Dean Smith in 2020-21 and 11 last season as Gerrard took charge, it was a disappointing slump for the 27-year-old.

Watkins is now unstoppable. He was directly involved in all three goals against Newcastle on Saturday, setting up Jacob Ramsey for the opener and scoring twice himself. It was an outstanding performance, but it was hardly a surprise. Watkins has either scored or set up a