Forward Ollie Watkins became the first Aston Villa player to score in five-straight Premier League matches in a 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday afternoon.
Watkins — now with a club-best eight league goals this season — opened the scoring in the 63rd minute when he converted on a penalty won by captain John McGinn.
The England international is the first Villa player to score in five-consecutive top-flight matches since Paul Rideout in 1985. Len Capewell’s eight-match top-flight goal scoring streak — set in 1925 — is the club’s all-time record.
“It’s a lovely record. It’s very hard to do, obviously,” Watkins told VillaTV after the match.
“As you’ve seen, so many top players play for Villa and no-one has done that. So I’m really enjoying it at the moment and long may it continue.”
Everton 0-2 Aston Villa
Watkins’ record-breaking goal put Villa ahead in a match that was anything but straightforward. Everton pressed high up the pitch early in the first half, forcing the Villa back line into mistakes in their own third.
Despite completing more passes and out-possessing the hosts, Villa were out-shot 15-9 in the match and only appeared in control when Emi Buendia doubled the lead in 81st minute.
Watkins and McGinn were involved again — the former holding up the ball for the latter, who found a surging Buendia — before the Argentine beat Jordan Pickford short side from the left.
The win ends a three-match losing skid for Villa, who remain in 11th place, tied on points (31) with 10th-place Chelsea.
“After the last three matches, where we’ve conceded a lot of goals, we were worried about it and we spoke about how much we wanted to win today,” said Villa manager Unai Emery after the match.
“Through a clean sheet we can try to win. The team was very focused in 90 minutes to do it, and we achieved it because the players have good spirit.”
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