Watkins previews City encounter

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Ollie Watkins

Fixtures

  • Aston Villa Vs. Manchester City – Sat, Dec 21st 2024, 12:30

Ollie Watkins is excited to be back on home soil this weekend as Aston Villa welcome Manchester City to Villa Park.

Villa entertain the reigning Premier League champions looking to repeat their 1-0 triumph in last season’s corresponding fixture.

The result came just days before victory over Arsenal by the same scoreline – which capped a club-record 15-match winning sequence in the league at Villa Park.

And Watkins is keen to extend this season’s impressive home form ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off in B6.

“I’m looking forward to it,” the striker told VillaTV.

“Obviously, a big team coming to Villa Park, we’ve got a really good home record and last year when we played them, it was a great week for us, as a team and as a club.

“Hopefully we can repeat that.”

Ollie Watkins

Unai Emery’s side return to home soil aiming to follow up successive league wins over Southampton and Brentford.

The Villans are unbeaten in seven league matches at Villa Park since a narrow reverse to Arsenal in August.

Just two points and two places separate Villa and City in a congested top-flight table heading into this weekend.

And Watkins hopes Villa’s home form can help them climb further up the standings.

“I feel like since the boss has come in, we’ve made it a little bit of a fortress,” he said.

“Going 15 games (last season) was amazing, so we know what we’re capable of.

“Hopefully we can do that again.”

He added: “Being at home, you want it to be a bit of a fortress, have that home support, make it a tough place for away teams to go.

“Like I said, we’ve done that in previous seasons.

“But even when you can’t win, just not losing, picking up points.”

Ollie Watkins

Villa’s August defeat to the Gunners was the sole reverse in our opening 13 matches of the campaign, as Emery’s side celebrated nine wins in two months.

That was followed by an eight-match winless sequence which ended with those consecutive league successes over Brentford and Southampton, as well as victory at RB Leipzig.

A frustrating injury-time defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend ended that run, with Villa looking to get back on track this weekend.

And Watkins, who has seven league goals to his name this term, offered an honest assessment of the season so far.

“Collectively, we had a really good start to the season,” he said.

“We had a bit of a blip but we’ve come out of that now, and we’re onwards and upwards, focusing on what’s next and trying to challenge for the top four. Making sure we’re in the Champions League next year.

“And personally, it’s been a stop-start season for me, obviously coming back late from the Euros and not finding my rhythm.

“So, it’s been tough, I’m not going to lie, but I’ll keep going.”



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