By John Townley

Copyright birminghammail

Feyenoord manager and Premier League legend Robin van Persie has praised Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash. Villa travel to De Kuip aiming for their second win in the competition, having started their European campaign with a 1-0 victory over Bologna last week. Unai Emery’s side then followed up their first win of the season with a 3-1 triumph over Fulham on Sunday. Watkins, who had failed to score in his previous seven Premier League appearances, opened his account for the season by equalising for Villa before half-time. He came off the bench against Bologna last Thursday, with Emery opting to start Donyell Malen as the striker. Watkins later won a penalty after coming on, though he missed the spot-kick. When asked what he admires most about Watkins’ game, Van Persie said: “I think his runs, the way he moves. He is really direct as a striker and has a really good feel for space. “He is fast, technical, and in the box is where his qualities lie. He will be a big threat against us tomorrow. “He is definitely one of their threats. We had a meeting about Aston Villa this morning. He was in it quite a bit.” Every day, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content. Our dedicated reporter John Townley – who you can follow on X by clicking here – follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between. So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here . You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive’s Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club. If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here . Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here , while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here .