Ollie Watkins told BT Sport during their live coverage of Aston Villa’s win against Arsenal on Saturday that the opposition players were doubling up on Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley.
After scoring a brace at the Emirates during the reverse fixture, boyhood Arsenal fan, Watkins, was at it again over the weekend.
This time it wasn’t either of Villa’s playmaking duo who provided him with the assist, but with the thriving Bertrand Traore, who pounced on an early mistake from Cedric Soares.
After the game, Watkins spoke about the ‘confusion’ at the back for Arsenal and shared his thoughts on their tactics on Grealish and Barkley.
“Bit of confusion at the back for them,” said Watkins. “I have hit it. I think it’s come off my left foot, come off the defender and then gone in. But I’ll take that.
“Jack (Grealish) is a great player and so is Ross (Barkley). And teams look at that.
“I think they doubled up on them, so it’s finding a way to get a ball to them, as quickly as possible. To try and let them create things.”
That’s ten Premier League goals for Villa’s record-signing and he is proving to be one of the best purchases of the summer.
The same cannot be said for the Arsenal players, who suffered yet another defeat in the Midlands and are now facing a tough challenge to finish in the European places.
The next six or so weeks are huge for the Gunners because they have important Premier League and Europa League fixtures coming up.
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