Hat-trick hero Ollie Watkins is over the moon, and understandably a bit in shock, after Aston Villa thumped Liverpool 7-2 on Sunday.
[ MORE: Aston Villa demolish defending champs Liverpool, 7-2 ]
Speaking in television interviews after the game, OllieWatkins revealed that he “can’t believe” he’d scored against the defending Premier League champions — let alone that he did so three times — nor the result which undoubtedly goes down as the shock result of the season thus far. At the same time, he lamented the fact that perhaps he should have scored more than three goals after wasting a chance or two in the second half — quotes from the BBC:“I can’t believe it, really. Getting one goal is good, but three is unbelievable. I think 1-0 up gives us confidence, we grew into the game and punished them. I came away with a hat trick but think I could have got more. It is bittersweet.”
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“I think when the first one went in I pinched myself a bit because of how early it was. I’m delighted to contribute and that we won at the end of the day.
“It’s unbelievable to score and get a hat trick. Before the game, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d score three. After the first one I grew in confidence, but I probably should have scored more than three in the end. I’d back myself to score some of the chances that I missed.
“We saw how high they play and the game plan was to get in behind and you could see that it worked. We fancied ourselves today, but I’m not sure we thought it would have been that score. It was more about making sure they couldn’t pass through us and we all worked hard and it showed tonight.”
Manager Dean Smith, who previously worked with Watkins at Brentford, didn’t sound as surprised as his star pupil as he took a mini-victory lap for a piece of transfer business well done.
Furthermore, Ollie Watkins’ three goals on Sunday were his first three PL goals since arriving at Villa for a club-record transfer fee of $36 million last month. The 24-year-old forward — perhaps a future England international? — had previously scored two goals across a pair of League Cup games this season.
🗣"At the end of the day I should have got more"
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 4, 2020
Ollie Watkins is buzzing about his perfect hat-trick 👏 pic.twitter.com/VmuzmfKBwH