It is perhaps an indication of Ollie Watkins’ uphill struggle this season that Tammy Abraham’s arrival at Aston Villa has already generated selectoral rumblings.

Indeed Abraham scored his first Villa goal in nearly seven years when he popped Morgan Rogers’ free kick into the back of the Newcastle United net at the weekend.

Unfortunately for the loan striker, Watkins, Unai Emery, indeed anyone connected with Villa it wasn’t enough to deny the visitors a 3-1 victory and passage through to the fifth round of the FA Cup. Another competition slips through Unai Emery’s grasp.

The 28-year-old’s performance in his second start since moving from Besiktas was one of the silver linings on an otherwise cloudy afternoon and will no doubt have given Emery plenty to think about ahead of this Saturday’s appointment with Leeds United.

It’s been suggested that it might have been enough to supplant Watkins on Emery’s pecking order, the latest addition to a narrative that seems set on drafting Watkins’ Villa obituary.

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