Update: Ian Wright says Marcus Rashford’s team-mate right to be frustrated after ‘disrespect’ News

Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has been left unhappy with his lack of game time and has admitted he was ‘fuming’ after being benched for both legs of their Champions League clashes against PSG

Ian Wright has offered words of support to Ollie Watkins – acknowledging the Aston Villa forward’s right to feel frustrated over his increasing time on the bench amidst competition from Marcus Rashford.

Watkins has had another impressive season, netting 16 goals and providing 13 assists. He recently matched Gabriel Agbonlahor’s record as Aston Villa’s joint-highest Premier League scorer with 74 goals.

Despite his consistent performance, reaching double figures for the fifth season in a row, Watkins hasn’t been guaranteed a starting spot under manager Unai Emery.

He was previously up against Jhon Duran, who left for Al-Nassr in January after a £64million transfer, but Rashford’s loan move from Manchester United has kept Watkins’ starting opportunities limited.

The 29-year-old striker has only started two of the last five league matches and two Champions League knockout games against Club Brugge. His playing time was further restricted to just 25 minutes across both quarter-final legs against PSG, who advanced to the semi-finals, reports the Mirror.

Watkins has not shied away from expressing his dissatisfaction with being sidelined, a sentiment Wright commends, stating on the Stick to Football podcast: “When Jhon Duran was at Aston Villa, the form of Ollie Watkins was in and out.

“Ollie gives me the impression that when he is dealing with that kind of pressure, he doesn’t get the shout. With Marcus Rashford coming in, maybe he feels disrespected.

“Of course, he has every reason to be frustrated about what’s going on, and I’m quite pleased that he said he was fuming – as a striker, you want to be out there scoring goals.

“When he played against Newcastle and started that game, he was brilliant – that would’ve been enough for me to give him back his spot. If he’s not getting his spot back when he’s doing the right stuff, he’s going to be fuming.”

Following Watkins’ standout performance in Villa’s 4-1 triumph over Newcastle – where he scored and provided an assist – he confessed to being “fuming” about the limited role he had in their two matches against the French giants.

“Champions League, we’ve put in a lot of hard graft in the last few years to get to that position,” he shared with Sky Sports. “I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games, so I’m not going to lie – I was fuming I wasn’t playing.

“I let [Emery] know that. He’s the manager at the end of the day. I respect his decision. But I’m not one of the players happy to sit on the bench. It’s something I haven’t experienced before and then to miss out on the biggest stage, you always want to play, especially in the Champions League.”

“Me and a few others are disappointed we didn’t start the game but like I said, it’s the manager’s decision.” Villa have the opportunity to end the season with silverware as they now turns their attention to the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Saturday.