Aston Villa striker spoke about the title race after scoring both of his side's goals in the win at Chelsea
Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins scored twice at Chelsea
Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins scored twice at Chelsea
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(Image: George Tewkesbury/Shutterstock)
Ollie Watkins says he and his Aston Villa teammates will continue to ignore outside noise, despite Unai Emery’s side maintaining title-winning form heading into the New Year, with Premier League leaders Arsenal up next.
Villa once again came from behind on the road to secure an 11th consecutive victory, beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Watkins came off the bench to score twice, turning the game on its head shortly after his introduction just before the hour mark.
The England international first levelled the game in the 64th minute before winning it with a header past Robert Sanchez.
"An amazing win. For me personally to come on and score two goals is a great feeling - but to keep up this run and come here, a tough place, and beat Chelsea is amazing,” Watkins told Sky Sports.
"He [Emery] changed it because Chelsea were going man for man but they had the extra centre-back when we were going long.
“When I came on in the second half he brought Jadon Sancho and Morgan Rogers on the wing and put Youri Tielemans in the No 10 - so we had an extra man in there. He's a tactical genius."
Asked if Villa are in the title race, Watkins said: "I feel like teams are worried about us, even if we may not play the prettiest football at times.
“We're taking each game as it comes and focusing on ourselves really. There's a lot of talk about us and people asking if we can win the title, but it's a long way away. We're just focusing on the next game."
Watkins has now scored five league goals this season, after also bagging a brace in the win at Brighton earlier this month.
"I haven't been where I want to be but I can use this as a marker to push on for the end of the season,” he said on his own form.
"I can't say that's a classy finish [first goal] at the end of the day, but I'll take it all day long."
Speaking about his winner, Watkins explained: "He wasn't marking me too tightly, so it's basically a free header. It's nice to see it float into the corner."
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