Watkins bounces back after England omission, reaches 100 Villa goals

Ollie Watkins turned a bleak England omission into a sharp rebound, and the timing could hardly have been better for a striker fight that still has no settled answer. Left out of Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man squad for the March friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, Watkins was back in goals, back in rhythm and back in the conversation for a place at the 2026 World Cup.

Tuchel’s decision on March 20 was framed as part of England’s wider preparation, with the German coach describing the camp as an odd window and making clear it would be his last squad before he submitted his World Cup selection. Watkins was not the only headline omission, with Trent Alexander-Arnold also left out, but the striker call carried extra weight because England’s centre-forward pecking order remained unresolved. FIFA noted that Harry Kane still sat at the top of the queue, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dominic Solanke were being considered as support options and Watkins, along with Ivan Toney, missed out.

At the time, the case against Watkins was obvious. Sky Sports said he had scored only once in his previous 11 appearances and that his finishing, movement and expected-goals numbers had dipped at Aston Villa. Watkins later said the snub had given him the “fire back in my belly”, and admitted his form “wasn’t up to the level”. He also said he had spoken to Tuchel before the squad was announced.

The response was immediate. By April 29, Watkins had scored six goals in his last six games, a run that restored the sharpness that had gone missing earlier in the spring. As of May 16, the Premier League had him on 12 league goals and two assists from 35 appearances in the 2025/26 season, numbers that look far healthier than they did when Tuchel left him out.

The milestone goals at Aston Villa underlined the recovery. Villa said Watkins reached 100 goals for the club against Bologna on April 17 in a 4-0 Europa League win, then added his 101st and 102nd in the 4-3 victory over Sunderland that weekend. He reached the century in 269 matches and has now scored double figures in each of his six seasons at Villa. For England, the question is no longer whether Watkins can respond to being overlooked. It is whether this is merely a hot streak, or evidence that Kane’s backing cast, and perhaps the hierarchy behind him, is shifting.