It was in January 2020 when West Ham United first expressed interest in signing Ollie Watkins.
West Ham wanted to bolster their striking options with then club record signing Sebastien Haller struggling to adapt. Watkins played for Brentford at that point but the Championship side were reluctant to sell. West Ham ended up signing Jarrod Bowen from Hull City instead and, while he has developed into a valuable member of the team, Watkins’ performance in Sunday’s 4-1 loss away to Aston Villa was a reminder of what West Ham could have had.
Watkins, 27, who joined Aston Villa eight months after West Ham’s initial interest, has been directly involved in 27 goals across 33 appearances in the Premier League since since Unai Emery’s first game in charge (18 goals, 9 assists); only Mohamed Salah (35), of Liverpool, and Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (33) have contributed to more goals in this time.
Antonio struggled to make an impression against Aston Villa on Sunday (West Ham United FC/Getty Images)
The England international, who scored and registered an assist against David Moyes’ side, was Aston Villa’s chief tormentor and did not give Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd a moment’s rest.
“Yeah (Watkins was a target) when he was at Brentford,” said Moyes. “He scored a good goal. Aston Villa are probably just behind the top three or four big name teams in the Premier League. Aston Villa are one of those sides at the moment and today was a big challenge to see where we’re at at the moment. I thought we fell below that.
“I thought we should have given them a much closer, tighter game as we did against Newcastle. They might be in the top four now, Newcastle, but I see Villa as being one of those teams just on the coat tails of those teams above them.”
A concern for Moyes will be Antonio’s recent struggles. The 33-year-old started the season in promising form, scoring in wins against Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion. But the Jamaica international came into Sunday’s game having not scored in his previous five league games and was ineffective against Aston Villa.
Antonio’s performance was a far cry from how effectively Watkins operated in the final third. Antonio rarely tested Aston Villa’s defensive duo of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres.
The forward (below) had six touches in Villa’s box, but none were in a central position.
Watkins, in contrast, linked-up well with his teammates and demonstrated the attributes of an elite forward who can run the channels so effectively. That used to be Antonio’s strength but he is no longer able to do it consistently. Watkins had nine touches in the opposition box, most of which were central.
Unai Emery’s faith in Watkins saw Aston Villa sell Danny Ings to West Ham in January. The 31-year-old left as their top scorer with seven goals in 21 appearances in all competitions. But Ings has struggled to adapt to David Moyes’ 4-2-3-1 system. The striker has not scored a Premier League goal since grabbing two in the 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in February.
West Ham were well beaten at Villa (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Moyes wants his team to challenge for a top six spot. Such ambitions have been boosted by the additions of Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus. But the missing piece of Moyes’ jigsaw is a clinical forward. It is the one position West Ham have perennially struggled to fill.
Teddy Sheringham is the last striker to score 20 goals in a league campaign (2004-05) for West Ham, while Tony Cottee is the last forward to score 20 goals or more in a top-flight season (1986-87) for the club.
Kudus may not be a recognised forward but he has shown glimpses of his offensive skills since joining from Ajax in the summer. Against Aston Villa, Moyes named the same starting XI for a fifth successive Premier League match — the first time West Ham have done that since a six-game run from December 1993 to January 1994 under Billy Bonds.
But despite scoring a late equaliser against Newcastle United, Kudus still awaits his first Premier League start.“I’m tempted to start Kudus every game but I have to be fair and say that the team’s played quite well,” said Moyes. “Obviously, we’ve got a balance that we’re trying to find and get that right as well. Sometimes our balance has been very good and got us some good results. Now and again sometimes it can cause you problems as well.
“The scoreline will not look good but there are things today I could say we did quite well. But the sort of things we’ve done week in, week out over the last two or three years at West Ham, we didn’t do well enough today.”
Aside from Antonio’s struggles, other key members of the team struggled to perform. A poor pass from Lucas Paqueta put Alvarez under pressure and led to him conceding a penalty, while Tomas Soucek was underwhelming in the No 10 position. Ultimately, Ward-Prowse’s verdict was most telling.
“This club wants to be in (the top 6) of the table, challenging,” he said. “I think today is a good realisation of what it takes to be at that level.”
(Top photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
