Ollie Watkins scored twice as Aston Villa beat Liverpool 4-2 on Friday, May 15, a win that clinched a Champions League spot for Villa and left the club celebrating a return to Europe’s elite.
The numbers underline why the result mattered: Watkins’ brace helped a side sitting fourth with 62 points from 37 matches, and it added to a run that has seen him score 12 Premier League goals this season and 19 in all competitions, according to Extratime Talk. Watkins has now hit 106 goals in 276 appearances for Villa and has 20 international caps and six goals for England.
Watkins has turned his season around since a slow start and a high-profile omission. He had been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the March international break, and he says that snub lit a fuse. "I had a slow start to the season, picking up a few niggles on international duty and then being left out of the England squad," he said. "I think it gave me that fire in my belly to come back and prove to people what I can do. A lot of people had written me off this season and I use that as motivation to show them that I can be back to my best - scoring and helping the team."
Since that March camp, Watkins has scored nine Premier League goals and 11 goals across all competitions. For context, harry kane has recorded 10 goals in the same period across all competitions; Erling Haaland has seven Premier League goals since the last international break and Morgan Gibbs-White five. Under Unai Emery, who has managed Watkins since October 2022, the forward has found consistent form — he has 75 goals in 185 matches working with Emery.
Team-mate John McGinn could barely contain his delight. "I wish he was Scottish!" McGinn laughed, before pointing to the March omission that clearly stung Watkins. "He was obviously disappointed in March but if it gave him a kick up the backside and he's certainly responded in the best way." McGinn added a broader compliment on Watkins’ importance: "We're so fortunate to have him, what he's done for this club the past few seasons has been incredible. I think he may have just snuck his way onto that plane."
Watkins’ influence stretches beyond the league. He opened the scoring in Villa’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest and set up John McGinn for the third goal, a performance that helped Villa reach their first continental final since 1982. The result means Villa are due to play Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday for a chance to win their first major trophy in 30 years.
The tension in Villa’s recent story is straightforward: a player written off by some after a slow start and an international omission has outscored established names in the weeks since, forcing questions about selection and hierarchy. Watkins has scored 11 goals across competitions since the March international camp — one more than the 10 scored by harry kane in the same stretch — and that shift in form is the friction point between club momentum and national-team choices.
Watkins’ two-goal night against Liverpool was not just a headline moment; it was a closing argument. Between his Premier League tally, his Europa League contributions and his 19-goal season total, he has produced the kind of late surge that will make it difficult for any England selector to ignore him. For Villa, his goals have turned a long-term ambition into a present reality: Champions League football secured, a continental final to chase, and a striker who has answered being left out with performance rather than complaint.
