'Complete confidence' - Unai Emery backs struggling Aston Villa star to come good
Villa boss Unai Emery retains “complete confidence” in Ollie Watkins despite the striker’s struggle for goals.
Watkins, the club’s all-time Premier League top scorer, has netted just once in 19 appearances this season and was replaced by Donyell Malen for Sunday’s 1-0 derby win over Wolves.
But Emery says he has no doubt the 29-year-old will eventually recover the form which saw him score 45 times during the previous two campaigns.
Emery said: “Ollie Watkins, he has my confidence, completely my confidence.
“He’s always doing his task. Maybe he’s feeling under his normal confidence, playing matches, because he’s not scoring, but he’s never giving up his task.
“Always, he’s doing positive work for the team, and he’s very, very important for us. And the goals are coming, sure.”
Villa as a team are the lowest scorers in the top half of the Premier League but the statistics are skewed by the fact they failed to net until their fifth match of the season.
