Ollie Watkins was relieved to put his difficult spell in front of goal behind him as his double helped Aston Villa overturn a two-goal deficit to beat Brighton 4-3 on Wednesday. 

Brighton had found themselves in cruise control when Jan Paul van Hecke opened the scoring in the ninth minute before Pau Torres' own-goal doubled their advantage. 

However, Watkins stood up when his team needed him most, finding a way past Bart Verbruggen with two goals in the space of 15 minutes at the end of the first half. 

Amadou Onana and Donyell Malen completed the turnaround after the break, though Van Hecke raised late hopes of a Brighton comeback with seven minutes remaining. 

Indeed, it was just the third time that Villa came from 2-0 down away from home to win in the Premier League, after a 4-2 win vs Tottenham in April 2000 and a 3-2 win vs Southampton in April 2005.

But Watkins, who had failed to score in his last seven Premier League games, was thrilled to get himself back on the scoresheet, though he said his recent form had taken its toll. 

"I think since the manager [Unai Emery] has come in, I've scored a lot of goals, and got assists," Watkins told Sky Sports.

"I always find myself playing regularly in the team, so to go a prolonged period without scoring and doing that, it does affect you.

"It has been hard, but you have to just keep picking yourself up, turning up every day, and working hard.

"You get your rewards in the end, and now I can put those hard times behind me and keep looking forward."

Watkins also continued his strong record against Brighton, scoring for the ninth time in 10 Premier League appearances against them.

He also scored more than once for the 10th time across competitions for Villa, with the Seagulls becoming the first side against whom he has done so multiple times (two).

"We're in an amazing place," Watkins added on Villa's good form this season, with their win over Brighton propelling them to third in the table. 

"Even though I wasn't scoring, I looked at the bigger picture, where we're further in the league.

"We just take each game as it comes. We want to be playing Champions League football, so that's the objective.

"Winning every week, what isn't there to love, really? So, if I can add goals, it gets even better."

Villa boss Unai Emery praised his side's resilience, particularly after falling two goals behind.

"It was a very tough match," the Spaniard told BBC Match of the Day. "How we started and reacted is more like the season.

"The players reacted and continued with our game plan to never give up. We kept the mentality and the resilience. It was really fantastic.

"We reacted to scoring one goal, and we started the game plan, and they followed it. We are so thankful for the supporters, 4000 of them with us here from Birmingham."

The win was Emery's 62nd as Villa boss in the Premier League – the most of any manager in Villans history in the league, overtaking John Gregory and Martin O'Neill (both 61).

Speaking on Watkins' performance, Emery added: "Keep going. He needs those goals, he needs calm. He needs to keep going and get balance and he got it.

"The [points] table is very important for us. We know how difficult it is. We needed to work hard and perform. We will play on Saturday against Arsenal at home.

"The teams behind us are going to push a lot. Be humble because we know how difficult it is to face teams in the Premier League."