Watkins on target again as Aston Villa cruise past AZ Alkmaar

Ollie Watkins continued his red-hot form as Aston Villa cruised to a statement 4-1 Europa Conference League win at AZ Alkmaar.

The striker netted his 10th goal of the season and fourth in Europe this season on Thursday.

Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans - his first for Villa - put them in control in AZ Stadium after less than 25 minutes.

Vangelis Pavlidis wasted the hosts' best chances but Watkins and John McGinn added more goals after the break in Holland before Ibrahim Sadiq grabbed a consolation.

It was the second time in two games Villa had scored four after their 4-1 Premier League win over West Ham on Sunday.

Unai Emery celebrated a year in charge on Tuesday and victory underlined the progress his side have made, having been floundering in 14th and three points above the relegation zone 12 months ago.

Villa host Alkmaar in two weeks knowing victory would see them take a giant leap to the knock-out stages, especially following an opening 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw in September.

After two games in Group E, all four teams were locked on three points but Villa moved to remedy that quickly, opening the scoring just 13 minutes in.

Watkins seized on a loose pass from Yukinari Sugawara and, while Boubacar Kamara's ball was cut out, it fell for Bailey to control and rifle in low from the edge of the box.

Alkmaar cried handball but the goal stood and 10 minutes later, the hosts were 2-0 down.

Another poor pass, this time from Sven Mijnans, went straight to McGinn and his angled pass found Tielemans to bag his first Villa goal.

Yet, 90 seconds later, the hosts should have pulled a goal back when Pavlidis fired over with just Emi Martinez to beat after Kamara was dispossessed on the edge of the box.

Pavlidis had a goal