Ollie Watkins sends Tottenham message following Aston Villa's victory at Arsenal

Ollie Watkins believes there are plenty of similarities between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur as the two teams jostle for a place in the Premier League's top four.

Watkins put the seal on Villa's 2-0 victory at Arsenal with a deft, deflected chip at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, adding to Leon Bailey's earlier low finish, as Unai Emery returned to his old stamping ground to put a big dent in the Gunners' Premier League title hopes and hand Manchester City the initiative after Liverpool also suffered a home defeat to Crystal Palace.

The victory pushed Villa three points ahead of Tottenham in fourth place in the table with a goal difference that is better by three after the north London side's woeful 4-0 defeat at Newcastle, although Ange Postecoglou's side currently have a game in hand.

Watkins, who now has 26 goals and 10 assists so far in a prolific season up front, was asked by football.london what message the victory at Arsenal sent to the other north London side.

«I think it has been a very similar season to Spurs. If they came here and won nobody would be surprised,» said the England international. «They play a similar style to us. Some people may be surprised by that result but I'm not. We've shown what we can do against the big teams and we deserve to be where we are.»

A look at the Premier League table shows Watkins to be pretty much spot on in his assessment of Spurs and Villa's seasons. The two teams have both drawn six games and lost eight in the Premier League and have each conceded 49 goals. With their extra game, Villa have won one more match with 19 and scored three more goals. Villa won 2-1 at Tottenham earlier in the season before Postecoglou's men triumphed 4-0 at Villa Park last month.

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