Aston Villa Ollie Watkins is relishing the chance to end the club’s long wait for silverware this season
Ollie Watkins is telling his Aston Villa teammates that ending the club’s trophy drought has been a key objective for him since he joined nearly five years ago.
Villa haven’t lifted silverware in 29 years, but they have the opportunity to reach the FA Cup final this weekend when they face Crystal Palace in the semi-finals at Wembley on Saturday.
Nottingham Forest and Manchester City will contest the other semi-final on Sunday, with both clubs enjoying strong Premier League form in their respective pushes to finish in the top five this season.
Villa’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dented by a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, where Matheus Nunes scored a 94th-minute winner for the champions.
However, Watkins has urged his teammates to move past the disappointment of that late loss and focus on what he calls a defining game in the club’s recent history, as they target silverware to cap off Unai Emery’s second full season in charge.
“Obviously it was a massive game, really important, coming off the back of a massive performance on the weekend.
“We knew it was going to be tough here, fighting for the Champions League and City pushed us to the limit, really.
“No-one likes to concede goals late on, no matter what team it is at the end of the day, so it is disappointing to take.
“But we’ve been really good these last five, six games, especially our home form as well has been amazing. We’ve beat some really big teams there and it’s a bit of a fortress.
“Sometimes you have a little bit of a blip and I think we got beaten by the better side.
“Teams in and around each other have to play each other as well, so everyone looks at the results and is hoping for them to go their way and we’ll be keeping a close eye on that.
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves as well and make sure we just win the games ahead of us.
“It’s a shame that we conceded at the end but, look, we have to move on to the weekend now, focus on the FA Cup, a big game at Wembley. We all want to win a trophy so all eyes are on that.”
“We’ve always gone out quite early doors and it’s disappointing,” Watkins continued. “You want to win these competitions and it’s nice that we’re in the latter stages of it.
“I’ve been saying to the boys one thing I set my eyes on when I joined the club was winning a trophy. It’s been so long since the club has done that and that’s the main aim, so Saturday is massive, and we will be doing all we can to get to the final.
“Obviously, it’s a quick turnaround and we have to get over tonight now. We’ve got all our faith in the manager that he’ll get the tactics right.
“Obviously, Palace have been a bit of a bogey team for us, but on our day we’re capable of beating anyone, and everyone’s looking forward to that. Just bring on the weekend, really.”
Watkins has been vocal about his lack of starts since domestic football returned following the March international break with Marcus Rashford leading the line instead of him in six of Villa’s last eight matches in all competitions.
“I was just saying, from my point of view, every player wants to play and that’s it, really,” he explained.
“I think there’ll probably be a worry if I said, ‘I’m happy to just sit on the bench and don’t want to play’. I think I’d be getting a bit of backlash, so I’ll just say it as it is.”
“We never know who’s going to play at the end of the day. Sometimes the manager will tell us 30 minutes before we leave the hotel to head towards the stadium.
“He tells us the team then, so, yeah, everyone just has to be prepared, really, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
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Get your hands on AVFC 150 years merchandise
Aston Villa is marking its 150th anniversary with the launch of a new merch collection including shirts, hoodies, books, mugs and scarves.
Top items include the Anniversary Shirt, Anniversary Hoodie and Anniversary Polo Shirt, plus the 150 Years picture books Volume One and Volume Two.
