Gareth Southgate spent some of this week analysing the latest performances of his England players and if Ollie Watkins did not feature then the Aston Villa striker will certainly will be prominent in his thoughts after scoring two goals and superbly laying on another in an impressive destruction of Newcastle. Southgate could not help but smile as the camera panned to him after Watkins, who also had a strike disallowed, added Villa’s third goal as they produced arguably their best display under Unai Emery.
These are heady days at Villa Park. Villa have won seven of their past eight matches to wriggle into the conversation for European football and this was a case of them flexing their muscles against a Newcastle team intent on qualifying for the Champions League.
