Aston Villa 3-1 Bournemouth: Unai Emery’s side mount impressive comeback with goals from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey after Dominic Solanke’s opener

Not only is Ollie Watkins in the running to win a Golden Boot, he’s also the leading assist-maker in the Premier League this season.

Aston Villa’s comeback win cemented their position in fourth and although Watkins wasn’t on the scoresheet himself, he created match-winning goals in the second half for Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey.

Significantly, they were both greeted by fans singing the name of the England striker rather than either of the scorers.

It’s a market-leading 12 league assists now for the 28-year-old and that’s in addition to the 19 he’s grabbed himself – only one behind Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer.

No wonder the club are as desperate to keep him this summer as they are manager Unai Emery – on Bayern Munich’s wanted list – and World Cup winning-goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

Dominic Solanke opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half for the Cherries

Morgan Rogers brought Aston Villa level on the stroke of half-time at Villa Park

At least Villa should be able to offer Champions League football as a carrot. Fifth-place Spurs trail them by six points and though the Londoners have a couple of games in hand, they also carry an inferior goal difference and a much harder-looking fixture list.

Emery is understandably being asked a lot about Watkins these days but doesn’t seem to mind.

‘He played fantastic today. Even when he doesn’t score he is brilliant helping the team,’ said the Villa boss.

‘He has added more things tactically and feels comfortable. His commitment to playing in the structure we need is fantastic.’

Having seen his defenders struggle to cope with Watkins all afternoon, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: ‘He is an amazing player. It is not just about the goals. He attacks spaces, he is very good at pressing. He deserved to score but it’s not just the numbers. He is very complete.’

It was actually a sluggish start by Villa who last week became the only remaining English club in Europe after squeezing past Lille on penalties.

Moussa Diaby missed the chance to settle them down by sidefooting wide from six yards but Bournemouth played with freedom and Justin Kluivert forced Martinez into his acrobatic best with a rasping shot.

The deadlock was broken after 31 minutes when Matty Cash cleaned out Milos Kerkez. Martinez tried his usual antics of trying to put off Dominic Solanke but the striker kept cool to fire home his 20th goal of the season.

Moussa Diaby scored the goal to put Aston Villa ahead after Ollie Watkins’ pass

It was a fascinating tactical battle between two of the best Spanish managers

Importantly for Villa, they managed to level as five minutes of added time were being flashed up.

Bailey drove forward from midfield and released Morgan Rogers down the left with the outside of his boot.

From there, the 21-year-old winger showed great composure. He accelerated into the box, cut inside Adam Smith and thumped a finish past Neto.

Iraola was unhappy at his side’s lack of pragmatism when they were so close to half-time.

‘We like to attack but there are moments to take decisions the game requires,’ he frowned. ‘We went up, they recovered the ball and it was three-against-three.’

Watkins had two shots saved by Neto before his key contribution arrived as a creator after 57 minutes.

His pace saw him reach Bailey’s pass before Illia Zarbanyi. He then cut inside his marker and picked out Diaby’s run into the six-yard box.

The timing of the pass was perfect and Diaby had little trouble in converting from close range.

The win puts Aston Villa in the driving seat for Europe, although Spurs have two games in hand

Martinez underlined his value again with a reflex save to stop Dango Ouattara’s close-range header and another moment of Watkins magic sealed the win with 12 minutes left.

Watkins latched onto Diaby’s pass and rounded Neto. Realising the angle was too tight to score, he had the nous to roll the ball across for Bailey to tap in.

Emery was asked about Bayern’s interest. ‘I am focused here 100 per cent,’ he said. 

Villa play Chelsea on Saturday and victory would leave Spurs nine points adrift, with the north London derby on Sunday.