Unai Emery hails ‘amazing’ Ollie Watkins following Brighton hat-trick, says Premier League is Aston Villa's priority
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Updated 30/09/2023 at 20:48 GMT
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has praised striker Ollie Watkins for the part he played in the 6-1 thrashing over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, scoring three goals and assisting another. Emery was speaking to TNT Sports after the match - which briefly saw Villa break into the top four - and outlined the club’s priorities for the season. “The first objective for us is the Premier League.”
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 30: Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal during the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park on September 30, 2023 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by
Image credit: Eurosport
Unai Emery was full of praise for Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, who scored a hat-trick against Brighton & Hove Albion in a 6-1 win on Saturday.
Watkins led the charge and put Villa two goals ahead within 21 minutes before an own goal from Pervis Estupinan had the game all but sewn up for Emery’s side before half-time.
Ansu Fati scored his first Premier League goal to grab one back for the Seagulls, but another strike from Watkins and goals from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz sealed the emphatic win.
“Firstly, I told him that his goals were a consequence of his work every day,” Emery told TNT Sports.
“His commitment with the work tactically that we have to do not only in the attacking third but as well when we are defending.
“And then he has the quality when there are spaces to attack, like today was fantastic, and today he played amazing.
“We helped him try and get on to good balls, and his finishing today was amazing. We are working with him individually, but he always wants to work more than we are trying to do with him.”
The result means Villa have won their last 10 league games at home - a run stretching back to February 2022 - and temporarily moved them up to third in the Premier League table.
Despite their resilient league form, Villa and Emery’s attention now turns to the Europa Conference League where they will be hoping to bounce back from defeat to Legia Warsaw.
But Emery’s full focus remains on domestic duties.
“We have to react after we lost in Warsaw,” he said. “We have time to do it.
“This week against Zrinjski here [on Thursday] we are going to try and win and try to do something in Europe because for us, it’s very, very important [playing] in Europe.
“But the first objective for us is the Premier League. We are very happy with the result today, but we’re being calm and positive. There’s a lot of work to do.”
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