It was anything but a straightforward three points for Aston Villa playing away at RB Leipzig, as Unai Emery's men had to battle back twice from setbacks to win 3-2.
Marco Rose's hosts did fight back to level the scores in the Champions League tie - as the Bundesliga side capitalised on some shoddy Villa defending - but those efforts would ultimately come to nothing when Ross Barkley's deflected effort towards the end of the contest wrongfooted Peter Gulacsi.
Aston-Villa
Away from Villa putting in some lacklustre showings at the back, Ollie Watkins also struggled to get going in attack, even as his fellow teammates up top loved life against an open Leipzig outfit.
Watkins' performances this season
The England international would set up John McGinn for the opener, as his header found the Scotsman in room to fire home after just three minutes, but he did very little away from picking up this assist.
The Villa number 11 would only muster up 18 touches of the ball from his 45 minutes, with just one shot also attempted on Gulasci's busy goal when he was still present in the back-and-forth affair.
Ollie-Watkins-2
He would be substituted off at the half-time mark after this quiet showing, and that decision to remove Watkins proved to be an ingenious one, as Jhon Duran strutted his stuff once more as an impact man.
Duran would score Villa's sensational second of the contest with a thunderous effort, whilst also firing home a quickfire second shortly after, only for an offside call to bring the mood down.
The goal that did stand was the 20-year-old's tenth strike of the season already, despite limited starts coming his way.
In contrast, Watkins has been more of a regular starter - with only two games in all competitions not seeing him play from the get-go - but he has three goals less.
Ollie-Watkins
With a hefty 15 big chances missed back in league action too, it could be argued that the former Brentford man - who netted 27 times last term - is regressing away from his very best, with the same fate frustrating Emiliano Martinez in between the sticks.
Martinez's regression at Villa
Football journalist Jacob Tanswell would state at the full-time whistle that the South American's numbers have "regressed" this year, especially when it comes to confidently asserting himself outside of the penalty box.
Lois Openda's equaliser on Tuesday night showed Martinez's frail nature in attempting to retrieve the ball from a punt up the pitch - as opposed to his previous strengths in this department - with the confident Belgian then getting the better of the out-of-sorts goalkeeper by simply finishing off the chance with Martinez way off his line.
His poor showing in goal wouldn't cost his team the dramatic win, as Duran and Co stole the headlines with a vibrant performance in attack, but Martinez was still handed out a low 5/10 rating by Daily Express journalist Fraser Watson, who simply labelled his 90 minutes as a 'rare nightmare evening.'
It's a regression even just across this season, as the World Cup winning 'keeper was sublime against Bayern Munich in the same competition just a few months back, with an outrageous seven saves tallied up helping his team famously pick up a 1-0 win.
Martinez's PL numbers - (23/24) vs (24/25)
Stat - (per 90 mins*)
Games played
Goals conceded*
Saves*
Successful run-outs*
Goals conceded (overall)
Saves made (overall)
Goals prevented
Accurate passes (own half)*
Ball recoveries*
Stats by Sofascore
His Premier League numbers for this season to date also show the fact he isn't quite performing at his previous peak, with his goals-prevented record looking particularly stark so far this campaign compared to his output for the 2023/24 campaign, alongside fewer saves being made per game along the way - as well as fewer successful run-outs.
There is, of course, still plenty of action to come for the Argentinian to turn around this narrative, but it's fair to say both Watkins and Martinez have been prone to an off-day as of late.
Martinez-1
Still, it feels unlikely either will be completely axed from Emery's XI next, as Villa hunt down a fourth straight win this coming weekend.
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