Unai Emery salutes Ollie Watkins after Aston Villa striker continues scoring streak
Unai Emery expressed his delight for Ollie Watkins after the striker continued his scoring streak against Nottingham Forest.
Watkins, making his 250th appearance for the club, scored for the fourth time in three matches when he opened the scoring moments before half-time in Saturday’s 3-1 win.
The England international, who endured a difficult start to the season, has now scored more goals than any other striker in the Premier League since the start of December.
Emery, who continued to back Watkins in public during his rough patch, said: “I was happy two months ago. I am happy now. For him it is much, much better.
“Even when he wasn’t scoring, others were scoring. We need every player focused like him, and doing his task like him.
“The most important thing is how we can complete our tasks. The numbers are important because it makes them a protagonist. It is fantastic.”
Villa’s win was their 11th in a row at home, their best run since 1990. It was also the perfect response to their midweek 4-1 defeat at Arsenal, moving them up to second in the Premier League.
Emery once again played down his team’s chance of mounting a title challenge.
He said: “We won today and we are playing on Wednesday away to Palace.
“The last example at Palace? We can speak about it. This is a challenge and to beat Palace is very difficult.
“We want to win lots of matches in a row, but it is difficult. We must now rest, and then work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the challenge we have. Our challenge is the next match, not how we will finish.”
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