Striker heads of to the USA with England next week.
Ollie Watkins believes he is heading to the World Cup in the best form of his career following a blistering end to the season at Villa.
The 30-year-old striker will jet out to the USA with the rest of the England squad at the start of next week brimming with confidence after a stunning turnaround over recent months.
Watkins scored 13 goals in his final 16 appearances of the season for Villa, having netted just eight in the first 39 of what he previously described as his toughest campaign at the club.
His renaissance helped Villa secure a fourth place Premier League finish and win the Europa League, while also earning him a Three Lions recall for the World Cup.
Watkins, who had been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s previous squad in March, says the tournament could not be coming at a better time.
He said: “After winning a European trophy and getting into the Champions League, obviously getting 21 goals in total for the season, individually I am playing my best football and I’m feeling the best I have felt for a long time. It is amazing.
“I have had really good runs before but I think personally this is the best I’ve ever been on, scoring a lot of braces.
“I think I could have scored even more. I think I am in the best moment in my career so far.”
Watkins, a £33million signing from Brentford in 2020, is Villa’s all-time Premier League top scorer.
But for much of the season he appeared a shadow of his former self, finding the net only once before December.
After hitting a hot streak around Christmas, he again struggled in the early months of 2026 before his campaign caught fire spectacularly.
Watkins scored seven goals in his last six Premier League appearances, including braces against Sunderland, Liverpool and Manchester City as Villa stamped their ticket back to the Champions League.
He also scored five goals in the Europa League to help end the club’s 30-year trophy drought.
Watkins said: “I feel personally, I go on a streak of goals, I go on little runs where as a team we are playing well and I feel confident in my individual performance.
“I knew I was going to hit a bit of form and thankfully it came at the right time.
“I think I have scored the most goals out of all the forwards at this back end of the season.
“Had I just scored a few more at the start, where could I have been?
“But everything happens for a reason. I am really proud of myself, at how I have turned it around individually because I felt I was in a really low place physically and mentally.”
While Watkins will now turn his attention to England, he is excited for what lies ahead at Villa after winning the first trophy of his career.
Asked if Unai Emery’s team could now kick on further, he replied: “We are always striving for more.
“Like John (McGinn) said, it only gives us that taste in the mouth to go and win something else and try to push on, not rest here, keep fighting and achieving more as a team.”
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