With four goals conceded and Ezri Konsa sent off in the early stages of the second half of their 4-1 defeat against West Ham United, delivering Aston Villa with their fourth Premier League defeat in a row, it was not a successful day for Dean Smith's side.

However, one player that we think stood head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates on the day that we think can hold his head up high, despite the disappointing result, is Villa striker Ollie Watkins.

The striker, who started the match and ended up playing the full 90 minutes managed to not only score Villa's goal but put in a well-rounded individual offensive display.

Via SofaScore, he had two shots on target, completed two dribbles and also managed to hit the woodwork. A combative display was summed up by the six defensive duels he won which ultimately earned him a very solid overall match rating of 7.2/10, higher than any other Villa player.

This shows just how useful he was for Smith in the game against David Moyes' side and why we feel he was Smith's shining light in a rather dark Halloween defeat for the Midlands club.

Since joining Villa from Brentford back in the 2020 summer transfer window for a then club-record fee of £28m, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £28.8m according to Transfermarkt, has made 47 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 17 goals and providing five assists along the way, cementing himself as one of Villa's top attacking talents.

Watkins' Premier League performances so far in this campaign have earned him an overall season rating of 6.88/10, making him Villa's third-highest rated player according to WhoScored, further highlighting his importance to the team.

Moving forward, with Watkins having now scored his second league goal of the season, everyone at the club will undoubtedly be hoping that he can keep scoring on a regular basis so he can help the club turn their poor run of form around and eventually see if he can get anywhere near the 14 league goals he managed to rack up in his debut season at Villa Park.

In other news: Ashley Preece has delivered his verdict on Aston Villa’s recent Premier League struggles…