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Ollie Watkins says two Liverpool players are ‘world-class’ after Aston Villa draw

Charles Jones

Thu 20 February 2025 11:15, UK

Aston Villa picked up a decent result on Wednesday evening agasint Liverpool as they held the Premier League leaders to a 2-2 draw.

The Villans picked up a valuable point against Arne Slot’s side, and, as ever, it wasn’t an easy task for Unai Emery’s men.

Indeed, Liverpool put in a real shift against Villa, and speaking after the game, Ollie Watkins has been discussing just how harꦛd this match was.

Watkins says that it was very tough to play against Liverpool, claiming that both Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk are world-c🎶lass defenders ꧒who didn’t give him an inch of space.

Van Dijk is the best defender in the world according to some, and Watkins says that it was very tough to p🐻lay against the Dutc😼hman and Konate.

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Ollie Watkins says two Liverpool defenders are world-class

Watkins spoke about the challenges of facin♔g t𒊎his Liverpool team.

The striker says he𓆏 had no space to run in 🐎to, and that both Konate and Van Dijk are world-class players.

Interestingly, Van Dijk praised Watkins last year ahead of 💧the previಌous game between these two sides.

“It was tough, the first half they made it difficult for us, there was no space to run in to, especially for myself. No space to run in to. I was playing against two world-class centre-backs, but you🦋 have to pick your moment and I felt we played really well,” Watkins said.

Ollie Watkins record vs Van Dijk and Konate

Watkins says ﷽that Van Dijk and Konate are world-class defenders, and he’s not wrong.

Indeed, Liverpool have the s🔥econd-best defensive record in the Premier League for good reason.

Interestingly though, Watkins has a really good record aga🦋ins🍒t Van Dijk as a player.

Six goals in nine games against Van Dijk is a remarkable record c🌌onsidering the defender’s quality.

Watkins’ record ag꧒ainst Konate isn’t quite as impressive, but it’s still solid enough after his goal on Wednesday𒐪.

Watkins famously scored past Van Dijk at Euro 2024 for England in the last minute of the꧑ semi-final clash, and, for one reason or another, it does look as though the Aston Villa star has the defender’s number.