Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O’Neil has been recalling how difficult it is to deal with Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.
O’Neil was the guest on Sky Sports Monday Night Football ahead of Tottenham’s victory over Fulham.
It was a fascinating insight into how a Premier League manager thinks and he spoke about how he sets up his current Wolves team.
Many expected the 40-year-old to be managing in the top flight this season on the south coast with Bournemouth.
However, his surprise sacking allowed Wolves to hire him following the departure of Julen Lopetegui and he got a satisfying victory over his old team at the weekend.
O’Neil discussed Aston Villa’s win over West Ham at the weekend with Jamie Carragher and pinpointed the threat of Ollie Watkins.
The £130,000-a-week forward is in the form of his life now with five goals and five assists to his name
The Wolves manager admitted that he thought his side dealt with the striker quite well earlier this month.
However, the 27-year-old gave him nightmares during his short spell in charge of Bournemouth last season.
Speaking about Unai Emery’s impressive side, O’Neil said: “They are difficult to stop. They entice defenders in on top of their box, so [John] McGinn and [Nicolo] Zaniolo are in there and if you want to jump in with [Vladimir] Coufal like West Ham did, they just find a big space for [Ollie] Watkins to run down the side. He got the fourth goal from it.
“We suffered it last year with Bournemouth when we went to Villa and tried to go in on the box with full-backs, and Watkins just killed us down the sides