Ollie and Villa possess that bouncebackability

VILLA came out on top against Brighton in a seven-goal thriller on Wednesday night.

- By JOHN TOWNLEY Football Writer

Unai Emery’s side found themselves two goals behind inside the first 30 minutes, but Ollie Watkins restored parity with a brace before halftime.

Amadou Onana then turned the game on its head by scoring Villa’s third, before Donyell Malen made it 4-2 with his first touch after coming on.

Brighton's Jan Paul van Hecke reduced Villa's lead in the 83rd minute, but Villa held on thanks to Marco Bizot’s stunning save to deny Danny Welbeck in added time.

Here are the talking points...

Watkins is back among the goals

What a relief - and what a weight off Watkins’ shoulders. This has undoubtedly been the most challenging period he has endured since Emery’s arrival over three years ago.

With just one goal in 19 matches this season, the pressure was growing on Watkins to rediscover his scoring touch, especially considering he had struck only four times in his previous 33 matches before Wednesday night.

It’s a huge boost for Villa and Emery that Watkins is now back among the goals, having netted 16 in the league last season and 19 the campaign before.

Ahead of the match, Emery revealed that Watkins had been dealing with knee pain recently, which goes some way toward explaining his dip in form.

Both of his goals against Brighton were impressive in different ways. His first was a classic poacher’s finish, anticipating exactly where Ian Maatsen’s cross would land before peeling off the Brighton defence and slamming past Bart Verbruggen to make it 2-2 deep into first-half added time.

Watkins has now scored eight Premier League goals in 10 appearances against Brighton, also providing two assists in those games.