It’s a horrible decision but Aston Villa will soon turn to Tammy Abraham over Ollie Watkins

Aston Villa were knocked out of the FA Cup by Newcastle United but the performance of striker Tammy Abraham was a positive amid the disappointment.

Abraham netted Villa’s goal in a 3-1 defeat, giving them an early lead before goalkeeper Marco Bizot was sent off late in the first half. A tame second period followed and Villa were left to count the cost of another FA Cup elimination and the shortening of their silverware hopes in 2025/26.

Bizot’s catastrophic mistake led the way in a competitive contest for subpar contributions but there was good news at the other end, where Abraham moved smartly and took his chance to put away the first goal of his second stint at Villa Park.

Tammy Abraham makes his point

Good news it may be, but it provides a bittersweet solution to a problem. Abraham wasn’t brought in as a direct and immediate replacement for Ollie Watkins but Villa’s record Premier League scorer has endured a season of fits and starts.

What Watkins has done in a Villa shirt is beyond question. He’s been quite brilliant, tearing past that goals record in no time and firing Villa from relegation battles to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The 30-year-old wasn’t in the team that got promoted from the Championship but, in my view, he’s part of that same group to whom the club owes enormous gratitude.

Abraham was the goal-getter in that Villa team seven years ago. He rejoined the club in January with his place in our hearts already locked but with something to prove too. He performed well in Italy and Turkey but has drifted out of the Premier League picture and indeed the England squad, not least because of a significant injury.

Villa play with a single central striker and Watkins has seen off plenty of competition for that place, but Abraham answered some questions on Saturday evening.

The former loanee grabbed a poacher’s goal and I thought his all-round game was encouraging. His hold-up and link play was good. His passing to bring players into the match behind him was a useful weapon, especially on the break.

Abraham was a handful for Newcastle’s defenders and, to put it bluntly, did lots of the things we’ve come to love and appreciate about Watkins but that he hasn’t been able to replicate this season.

A season of fine margins for Villa

That’s a brutal analysis but Saturday’s defeat only served to amplify the importance of a starting eleven who are firing on all cylinders for the rest of the season.

Leaving Watkins out is something that might have happened a lot more freely this season had there been an appropriate alternative. Villa playing without Watkins by choice is always strange. It doesn’t feel right. Nobody is really happy about it because he is rightly adored.

But I think it’s a choice that’s coming.

Villa manager Unai Emery isn’t going to discard his frontman easily or willingly, not really, but the more Abraham makes an impact when he’s on the pitch, the likelier it is that he’ll leave Emery with little option.

The team can’t afford to leave Abraham on the bench if Watkins isn’t having the necessary effect. Villa are third in the Premier League and into the round of 16 of the Europa League. They’re fighting for a Champions League return on two fronts but neither will be straightforward.

There’s no wiggle room and no place for sentiment. Emery must – and will – go with his most effective available player at centre-forward. It’s not a decision he’ll take lightly but if Abraham outperforms Watkins in the next couple of weeks, it’ll be a decision that happens sooner than we might think.

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