Define how to shoot yourself in the foot. Aston Villa displayed that on Saturday against Brentford.
Every game that is now played, no matter how big, has huge, huge pressure on it because of the reward at the end of it – Champions League football!
But Unai Emery is surely fuming with his players after Aston Villa let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 3-3 with Brentford.
If it wasn’t for a brace from Ollie Watkins, then this would be another defeat for the team and an even bigger blow to the club’s Champions League hopes.
The 28-year-old is having the season of his life and his brace against his former club took his tally to 18 for the campaign.
What’s even more remarkable is that Watkins has now been involved in 28 goals involvements in the Premier League, no Villa player has had more since 1992.
Watkins needs to be spoken about as a Player of the Year candidate in the Premier League as a whole because he is going to walk away with the Villa one, at this rate!
Tim Sherwood was sure to give his flowers to the player by stating that he has had an ‘amazing season’, as he told MatchDay Extra on Premier League Productions (06/04/24 at 8:30 pm).
The former title-winning midfielder added that the England star’s second goal, which rescued a point for his team, could prove to be ‘priceless’ in May.
Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa
“Villa, to be fair to them, they come back into it,” said Sherwood. “Ollie Watkins gets that priceless goal, it could be priceless.
“It’s a good leap. The goalkeeping and defending is terrible again. It’s a deflected cross. Ollie just jumps, makes sure he keeps his hands off everyone and just his athleticism there, his leap is incredible for his second goal.
“An amazing season for Ollie Watkins. But they are going to need him from now until the end of the season because I believe it’s going to be an uphill battle for them to get Champions League football.”
Aston Villa’s defending
Yes, fans can understand losing to a team like Manchester City and conceding four. More than half the team was missing for that game.
But the performance, from a defensive aspect, against Brentford was unacceptable, mainly in the second half.
Time and time again, Villa keep doing this. Against Spurs, Luton, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
There are games when, in the first half, the opposition team have done next to nothing.
But as soon as they get a sniff or a goal, Villa just collapse and can’t seem to stop conceding.
You sympathise with Emery because he has had to deal with so many big injuries, including four first-team starters suffering season-ending injuries, but the rest of the players need to fix up.
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