Express & Star

Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins relieved to break Premier League scoring duck

Ollie Watkins has revealed his relief after his first league goal of the season.

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The Villa striker opened his Premier League account by grabbing the winner in Sunday’s 1-0 victory at Chelsea. Watkins scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 Europa Conference League qualifying win at Hibs last month but has been waiting to break his top-flight duck. “It’s a bit of a relief, really, because the more the games go by, there’s a lot of talk and pressure,” he said, ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup visit of Everton.

“But I just try and block that out and I back myself in front of goal no matter what anyone says.

“The first one is always hard to get. I’m delighted to get off the mark now. I’m looking forward to the games coming up now and plenty more goals for the season.”

Watkins’ second-half strike at Stamford Bridge lifted Villa to sixth in the Premier League ahead of turning their attention to the Carabao Cup.

“I didn’t think it was our best performance, to be honest,” Watkins added. “It was a tough game, we didn’t pass it around like we normally do but, at the end of the day, we’ve come away with three points against a Chelsea side who have got a lot of good players. It’s a tough place to come.

“Some games are like that, you can play really well and not win and play not so well and come away with the three points.

“So, we’ll take that, it’s a good start to the season for us.”