Watkins wants to make Villa Park ´a fortress´

Ollie Watkins wants Aston Villa to “create a fortress” at Villa Park, following their 3-1 victory over Brentford.

Watkins was on target from the penalty spot against his old club, as Unai Emery’s side got back to winning ways after a run of eight games without success across all competitions.

Morgan Rogers and Matty Cash also struck for Villa, who have now lost just one of their last 12 Premier League matches on home soil.

And Watkins has urged his team-mates to keep producing the goods at Villa Park, as they look to build momentum after their tricky spell of form.

“We started the game brightly and came out on the front foot,” the England forward told Amazon Prime.

“We got the early goal and that settled the crowd’s nerves. A few recent results haven’t gone our way, but we have full faith that we can turn it around.

“We just need to focus on the next game [against Southampton]. We need to create some momentum and try and create a bit of a fortress here at home. This is something to build on.

“We’ve been in worse situations at the club than this. We’re like warriors, and we’re here to fight to the end. It was important we got a win here tonight, and now we move on.”

Three goals. Three points. UTV!pic.twitter.com/ju962C6c8A

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 4, 2024

“The team has to try and get a very good feeling again here at home, a fortress,” concurred Emery, who avoided overseeing a nine-match winless streak for the first time in his coaching career.

“Scoring like [Morgan Rogers] did was fantastic, because this is the way to get confidence again.

“We did very well over 90 minutes, particularly in the first 34 minutes when we scored three goals. But it was not a moment to relax for us, because we drew 3-3 against them last season.

“The defence did a fantastic job. Tyrone Mings cleared some very good balls in the box. It was his first game in the Premier League in a long time, so it was very important.”

Meanwhile, Brentford’s struggles on their travels continued. The Bees have only collected one point away from home all season, and have now failed to win any of their 10 league games at Villa Park.

But Thomas Frank conceded his players were beaten by the better team on the day.

“It could have been game on in the second half,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “We played a better second half than first half. The way we responded was good and we maybe could have had another goal.

“I think Villa were clearly the better side, and they deserved to win. They hit a high level, and we didn’t hit a high level. Sometimes, you need that quality action from your key players – we didn’t have that today.

“I know how good the players are and how good we can play at times. When you know there’s more in the team and we don’t perform, it’s always irritating and frustrating. But Villa were unstoppable.”