Ollie Watkins

[Smithy]

It doesn't worry me as much as others when he goes through a dry spell either, mainly because all strikers do. He probably should have a few more goals than he's got and he'll probably tell you that himself but I think he's excellent for us. 

Strangely, I think that having never been what you'd call prolific in the premier league, I don't think the odd dry spell would get to him too much, mentally speaking.  He's had plenty of them. That's not a criticism, just the fact that he's the sort of striker who IS going to have runs of games without scoring.  It's not a crisis, and he knows he'll come good.  Imagine if someone like Salah, Kane, or Haaland went 6 games without scoring, it would be a back page full-on crisis. It would be mentioned in every single commentary every game. Ollie is good enough to get 20 goals a season, but not so good that failing to get there is a literal failure.  And while he's contributing assists, he's absolutely invaluable to the side and the way we play.

Barring something spectacular, you'd have to think he's also now a shoe-in for the Kane back-up role in the summer.

[Drummond]

The rate Watkins is scoring goals for us is up there with Benteke. Everyone else with a comparable number of goals took a lot longer to score them all. Here's to many more.

[Dogtanian]

The rate Watkins is scoring goals for us is up there with Benteke. Everyone else with a comparable number of goals took a lot longer to score them all. Here's to many more.

I was looking at our Premier League top scorers list, and it's grim. Of the top 30, 7 are players that have played for us since coming back up. Just shows how few good goal scorers we've actually had in the last thirty years.

[LukeJames]

The rate Watkins is scoring goals for us is up there with Benteke. Everyone else with a comparable number of goals took a lot longer to score them all. Here's to many more.

I was looking at our Premier League top scorers list, and it's grim. Of the top 30, 7 are players that have played for us since coming back up. Just shows how few good goal scorers we've actually had in the last thirty years.

I was doing a quiz at work on this and I was surprised at some of the names on the list. I got 23/25. Missed El-Ghazi and Weimann. How the fuck is Weimann on the list? In my head I thought he had about 5 or 6 maximum.

[DrGonzo]

Apologies if already mentioned, but the first Villa player to get double figures for both goals and assists in a season since Yorke in 95/96. He’s doing great work for the team. Thanks man!

[Brazilian Villain]

Apologies if already mentioned, but the first Villa player to get double figures for both goals and assists in a season since Yorke in 95/96. He’s doing great work for the team. Thanks man!

There must be a good chance that Bailey will also do the same.

[Dave]

Achievable for Doug as well.

[DrGonzo]

It would be quite a thing to get 3 of them past that figure in one season consider we haven't managed it once in 27 years.

[Dogtanian]

Since the Premier League reduced to 20 teams, we've averaged 46 goals per season. The high was 71 in 2007-08, and the lowest 27 in 2015-16.

Last season we hit 55, our second highest total... so, we've been shit in front of goal. A fact that is borne out when you look at our top scorers list, which currently requires only 38 PL goals to get in the top ten, despite 29 seasons in it. Five of our top ten have been there since the 90s.

This season we are averaging 2.13 per game, which would put us on course for around 80 goals and a new record. So it isn't surprising that we are starting to break these sorts of records.

Long may it continue!

[Smithy]

Since the Premier League reduced to 20 teams, we've averaged 46 goals per season. The high was 71 in 2007-08, and the lowest 27 in 2015-16.

Last season we hit 55, our second highest total... so, we've been shit in front of goal. A fact that is borne out when you look at our top scorers list, which currently requires only 38 PL goals to get in the top ten, despite 29 seasons in it. Five of our top ten have been there since the 90s.

This season we are averaging 2.13 per game, which would put us on course for around 80 goals and a new record. So it isn't surprising that we are starting to break these sorts of records.

Long may it continue!

Interesting that going back at least 10 years, no team scoring 80 goals has ever failed to be in the top four.  Sometimes the league winners don't score that many.  Leicester won the league scoring just 68.

[eamonn]

It's a pity we can't manage the concession benchmark of less than one goal a game conceded. But I'd rather over-score as compensation than a load of one-nillers.

[Smithy]

It's a pity we can't manage the concession benchmark of less than one goal a game conceded. But I'd rather over-score as compensation than a load of one-nillers.

Indeed.  The goalie with the most clean sheets so far this season? Jordan Pickford. And I certainly wouldn't swap our results for theirs!

[Dogtanian]

Since the Premier League reduced to 20 teams, we've averaged 46 goals per season. The high was 71 in 2007-08, and the lowest 27 in 2015-16.

Last season we hit 55, our second highest total... so, we've been shit in front of goal. A fact that is borne out when you look at our top scorers list, which currently requires only 38 PL goals to get in the top ten, despite 29 seasons in it. Five of our top ten have been there since the 90s.

This season we are averaging 2.13 per game, which would put us on course for around 80 goals and a new record. So it isn't surprising that we are starting to break these sorts of records.

Long may it continue!

Interesting that going back at least 10 years, no team scoring 80 goals has ever failed to be in the top four.  Sometimes the league winners don't score that many.  Leicester won the league scoring just 68.

Yep, two goals per game is where to be!

[Footy-Vill]

Feeling a Watkins brace tonight.
I expect Southgate to be going either tonight or Sunday.

[Brazilian Villain]

Feeling a Watkins brace tonight.

Hope you mean 2 goals for Ollie, as opposed to another addition to our injury list.