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Topics: Champions League, Premier League, Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins, Marcus Rashford, Unai Emery, Gary Neville, Roy Keane
Chris Nee
Topics: Champions League, Premier League, Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins, Marcus Rashford, Unai Emery, Gary Neville, Roy Keane
Gary Neville spotted a concerning piece of body language from Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins during their defeat at Manchester City.
Villa saw their Champions League qualification hopes slashed as a result of the loss at the Etihad Stadium and Watkins was again asked to take a place on the substitutes' bench as manager Unai Emery selected Marcus Rashford in the starting eleven.
Manchester United loanee Rashford started both legs of Villa's Champions League quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain.
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After a goal-scoring return against Newcastle United in the Premier League, Watkins admitted to being 'fuming' that he was left out after his own major contribution to Villa reaching the latter stages of European competition for the first time in a generation.
Speaking to Jill Scott, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright and Roy Keane on Sky Sports' Stick To Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville told the story of an off-mic conversation during the match.
Watkins and Villa captain John McGinn were preparing to come off the bench with the score at 1-1.
"McGinn was stood out there for quite a bit and the [Sky Sports] director said, 'Where's Watkins?'" recalled the former Man Utd right-back.
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"And I said, 'He's bent down.' And he's staying bent down for like a long time.
"Look, I might be reading something into it... And the set piece coach [Austin MacPhee] was trying to speak to him I think whilst he was kneeling down. He wasn't turning his head."
Wright and Keane weighed in. The Arsenal legend pointed out that Watkins' stance was consistent with a player who's already admitted quite openly to being 'fuming' about his playing time.
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"Yeah, but he said he was fuming the other day," replied Keane.
"You can't be fuming three or four days later!"
After Wright suggested that Emery is simply managing Watkins in such a way as to fire him up and to pick the right striker for the right matches on a case by case basis, Neville agreed.
"I think Watkins will play at the weekend," he predicted.
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Villa take on Crystal Palace on Saturday in the first of this weekend's FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley.
Emery's hunt for their first major trophy since 1996 goes and he will be desperate to take back them to the FA Cup final ten years after their last.
The Villans haven't won England's primary cup competition since 1957.