BBC Sport’s Live coverage of Wednesday night’s league matches quoted Dean Smith as saying that there is no centre-forward better than Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins in the Premier League when it comes to pressing.
In netting the winner when Villa came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur in North London, 25-year old England international, Watkins, took his tally to 16 goals for the season in all competitions – and 14 for the Premier League.
It was a brilliant win for Villa but a huge knock on the head for Tottenham, with them slipping into seventh and with one game to play after the demoralizing loss and now they are reliant on Southampton getting a win against West Ham, while they themselves need to surmount Leicester City.
Asked about Watkins after the comeback win, Smith made the ponderous claim that Watkins is better at pressing than any other Premier League no.9.
“He’s the best pressing centre forward in the league in my opinion. He earned the goal himself. It was a great performance from Ollie and he’ll probably feel he could have had a couple more,” Smith said without batting an eyelid.
In all fairness to centre-forwards in the league who also definitely merit consideration for their ability to pile on the pressure while pressing, Jamie Vardy seriously has to be a serious contender. Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino is up there in the pecking order too, with Liverpool renowned for their gegenpress under Jurgen Klopp.
Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford, Man United’s Edinson Cavani, Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and many others are no less excellent when it comes to work rate and definitely merit more than just a mere mention – but Dean Smith is not wrong when he says Watkins is certainly up there.
Whether he’s the best when it comes to pressing is of course debatable.