Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted by the way Ollie Watkins channelled his anger at his bit-part role against Paris St Germain with a man-of-the-match display in the 4-1 thrashing of fellow Champions League contenders Newcastle.
The long-serving 29-year-old started both legs of the quarter-final clash with the French champions on the bench, making late substitute appearances in the 3-1 loss in Paris and Tuesday’s 3-2 win at Villa Park.
Watkins returned to the starting line-up in Saturday’s key encounter with Newcastle and opened the scoring inside 33 seconds, before teeing up Ian Maatsen to put Villa back ahead after Fabian Schar levelled.
Dan Burn’s own goal and a stunning Amadou Onana effort completed a statement 4-1 win, with star man Watkins using anger at being benched against PSG as fuel.
A goal and an assist in a massive win 👊
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 19, 2025
Ollie Watkins is your Player of the Match from #AVLNEW 🤩@adidas || #UpTheVilla pic.twitter.com/yzzatDcpMO
“Look, Champions League we’ve put in a lot of hard graft the last few years to get to that position and obviously I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games,” the England international told Sky Sports.
“I’m not going to lie I was fuming I weren’t playing and I let him know that, but, look, he’s the manager at the end of the day and you’ve got to respect his decisions. But I’m not one of these players that’s happy to sit on the bench.”
Watkins’ comments were put to boss Emery after Saturday’s mightily impressive triumph.
“It’s fantastic,” the Villa manager said. “It’s fantastic to be angry, it’s fantastic to play like he played today.
“It’s fantastic to be available every match in the better moment, like I think today he showed. This is the competitive way I want.
“With Watkins, it was a very good conversation. And, of course, when he is responding like today I’m so, so happy for him, for the team, for our objective, how we are getting through them and through their demand as well.
Premier League clubs haven’t been hanging around 😅
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 19, 2025
That's now 10 goals scored inside the first minute of matches this season, equalling a record set in 2022/23! pic.twitter.com/xSRL6NvVNB
“It’s really fantastic, but every player for me is the same. I’m trying to support and to help them.”
Sixth-placed Villa head to Manchester City on Tuesday having cut the gap to Newcastle in third to two points as Jason Tindall tasted defeat for the first time as Eddie Howe’s stand-in.
It was a galling end to the Magpies’ six-match winning run in all competitions and a result that led the assistant to concede sticking with the same side for a seventh straight game was perhaps too much.
“It was obviously a difficult evening,” Tindall said. “I felt on reflection over 90 minutes Aston Villa deserved to win the game.
“First half I felt we’d done alright off the back of the early setback of conceding so early. The lads showed great character to get themselves back into the game.
Reflect, reset and go again. 💪
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) April 19, 2025
Thank you for your tremendous backing at Villa Park today.
Safe journey home 🖤🤍 pic.twitter.com/uYXgbLaMzQ
“Then maybe sort of looking at the second half, maybe it was just one step too far. Three games in six days maybe caught up with us, certainly around the hour mark.”
Tindall said he had not spoken to Howe, who is recovering from pneumonia, immediately after Newcastle’s first league loss since February and is unsure whether he will still be leading the side at home to Ipswich next weekend.
“Until I’m told otherwise then obviously that’s my duty and what I have to do,” the stand-in boss said.
“As I’ve said, obviously the most important thing for Ed is that he rests and recovers. I think the more he does that, then the sooner he’ll be able to kind of lead the team again.”
