Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Sun, Mar 10th 2024, 14:00
Ollie Watkins insists Sunday’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur “doesn’t define our season”.
Two goals in three minutes from James Maddison and Brennan Johnson early in the second half put Spurs in control at Villa Park.
Skipper John McGinn then saw red shortly after the hour mark, before Heung-Min Son and Timo Werner found the net in added time to inflict a 4-0 reverse.
“Really disappointing,” said Watkins, speaking post-match.
“First half I felt we had a few opportunities on the break, I had an opportunity myself, I’ve chopped back, maybe I should shoot.
“But I felt in the first half they didn’t cause us too many problems, I think they had one corner.
“Second half we’ve come out a little bit slow and they’re always quick coming out in the second half.
“They’ve scored two goals really quickly and it’s very difficult against a good side to come back from 2-0.
“Obviously, with our captain getting sent off as well, it was difficult.”
Watkins, who has 21 goals to his name so far this term, felt a couple of heavy challenges early on in the encounter but refused to use that as an excuse.
The disappointing defeat ended Villa’s three-match winning sequence in the Premier League, but Unai Emery’s side get to chance to bounce straight back against Ajax on Thursday night before resuming domestic matters at West Ham United on Sunday.
And the striker is adamant defeat to Spurs won’t shape the season for fourth-placed Villa, who still have 10 matches remaining this term.
“The ref said he checked it but he (Micky van de Ven) has definitely caught my Achilles there,” said Watkins.
“Then I felt another one, from I think it was Pedro Porro, in the early five minutes of the game, which is not great trying to run it off.
“But that’s no excuse for a poor performance from myself, I can definitely do better and, as a team, we can do better.
“But this doesn’t define us, this game doesn’t define our season.
“We’ve done unbelievable to get where we are, really proud of all the boys, we’ve still got a lot of football to play. So, this game doesn’t define our season.”
