Unai Emery never doubted that Morgan Rogers would return to form, claiming the stunning opener he scored against Tottenham was the result of his consistent hard work.

The 23-year-old had struggled during the opening weeks of the campaign, and many Villa fans had called for Emery to drop him due to basic mistakes on the ball and below-par performances.

But now, after netting his first goal of the season for Villa - shortly after opening his account for England during the October internationals - Rogers appears to have turned a corner.

At 23 years and 85 days old, Rogers has become the sixth-youngest player to record 25 Premier League goal involvements for Aston Villa, and the youngest to do so since Christian Benteke in August 2013 (22 years, 257 days).

"Always he is doing his task, always," Emery said about Rogers. "He is a hard worker. Through it, it is coming, his performance.

"The team needs the work and then the capacity and skills. Today, Watkins played fantastic for 30 minutes. I watched him today thinking... wow.