Ollie Watkins kickstarts Dream Team campaign with FIVE goal involvements against Brighton

ASTON VILLA registered a statement victory over Brighton on Saturday.

The Seagulls had won five of their six Premier League games before what many expected to be a relatively even match-up on paper but Unai Emery’s side swaggered to a mightily impressive 6-1 win thanks mostly to an Ollie Watkins (£4.1m) masterclass.

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Dream Team

Different gravy[/caption]

Roberto De Zerbi’s side simply couldn’t handle the Villains’ forward, who took the match ball home after bagging a ruthless hat-trick.

Not only was Watkins clinical in front of goal, he registered two assists to notch FIVE goal involvements in all.

This dominant performance resulted in a 25-point haul – the best return from a single game among all Dream Team players this season.

Prior to Gameweek 7, Watkins merely simmered in the realm of Dream Team without fully capitalising on the chances presented to him.

He scored a hat-trick against Hibernian in the first leg of Villa’s Europa Conference League qualifying play-off but that wasn’t a Dream Team eligible fixture.

Domestically, he didn’t score his first goal of the campaign until Gameweek 6, his side’s winner against Chelsea, but that effort was partially undermined by a goose egg at home to Everton in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

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Villa thrashed Brighton on Saturday[/caption]

According to the xG models, Watkins was among the most-wasteful finishers in the league at one point but his fantastic display against Brighton has readdressed the balance – he’s now over-performing against his xG.

The 27-year-old was already among the leaders in the creative department with four assists in his first five outings but he’s kickstarted his Dream Team campaign in emphatic fashion with the demolition of De Zerbi’s troops.

Watkins now has four goals and six assists to his name; his combined tally of ten goal involvements is the joint highest at the time of writing – he’s level with Erling Haaland (£8m) and Julian Alvarez (£4.5m).

Needless to say, a 25-point haul has catapulted him up the Dream Team rankings.

The England international is now fifth among strikers with 58 points in total, just two fewer than Son Heung-min (£4.7m) and four fewer than Mohamed Salah (£6.7m).

And Watkins has a superb chance to leapfrog the South Korea international this week if selected to play any part against Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday night – Tottenham obviously don’t have European commitments this season.

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Villa’s form has been brilliant since Emery took charge[/caption]

Villa are now up to fifth in the league table and, somewhat ironically, only Brighton have scored more goals in the top flight this term.

Factor in their excellent form in the second half of last season and it’s clear there are plenty of points to be had backing the likes of Watkins, Moussa Diaby (£3.4m) and attacked-minded full-back Matty Cash (£3m).

Villa’s fixtures for the upcoming Gameweeks look rather favourable too: Wolves, West Ham, AZ Alkmaar (x2), Luton, Nottingham Forest, Fulham.

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