Trust in Jackson crucial for Emery

[Getty Images] Ollie Watkins' departure to Al-Hilal - which lurched between acrimonious and emotional - has left Aston Villa without their best attacking outlet. Despite just one goal in his first 13 top-flight games last season, he ended up netting 16, leaving him on 91 Premier League goals - a club record. Nicolas Jackson was brought in as Watkins' direct replacement and was a priority signing for Unai Emery, having worked together at Villarreal. He has started Villa's past two games, the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal and Saturday's draw at Hull City . Jackson scored 30 goals in 81 appearances for Chelsea , but the stats slightly favour Watkins across the period when they both played in the Premier League between 2023 and 2025. In his first Premier League season, the 25-year-old scored 14 goals and contributed five assists, compared with Watkins' 19 goals and 13 assists. In 2024-25, Jackson scored 10 goals to Watkins' 16 in 382 fewer minutes. He only had eight fewer shots, but his conversion rate of 13.2% was inferior to Watkins' 19.1%. [BBC] Yet Jackson's time at Bayern Munich - helping them win the Bundesliga last season - gave him a 21.1% conversion rate, scoring eight goals in 1,004 minutes of game time. It is why Emery trusts Jackson, but the unknown is being able to gel a new core of players together, however high their potential. Between them, Watkins and Morgan Rogers scored 46% of Villa's goals in the Premier League last season. Rogers and Lucas Digne provided 12 assists, with Youri Tielemans adding four and Watkins three. All four have left, so 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye and Chelsea loanee Garnacho will be expected to be the supply line, with Brian Madjo and Tammy Abraham supporting Jackson. Read the full article here