Aston Villa and Ollie Watkins’ goalless start to the Premier League season has its roots in a decision made last season.That’s the belief of former Villan Tony Cascarino, who believes the player may well be frustrated by treatment from manager Unai Emery last season.GettyWatkins has started all four Premier League games for Villa but has no goals so far[/caption]Watkins was an immediate hit at Villa Park after a £28million move from Brentford in 2020.He scored a perfect hat-trick in the Premier League against Liverpool in a famous 7-2 win just a month after signing and continued his fine form across the last five seasons.In all he has 87 goals in 227 games for the Villans, and hit 19 in the Premier League in the season before last to fire them into the Champions League.However, last campaign, Watkins found himself on the bench for their biggest game of the season as he continued his returned from injury in March.Aston Villa faced Paris Saint-Germain away from home in the Champions League quarter-finals, but the England international was left out in favour of Marcus Rashford, who was on loan from Manchester United.The Villans subsequently fell to a 3-1 defeat in the first leg, despite taking the lead through Morgan Rogers, with Watkins playing the final 11 minutes as a substitute.Watkins remained on the bench for the second leg, despite scoring as a sub against Southampton just days earlier.This time he played just 14 minutes as Aston Villa failed to complete an improbable coming – losing 5-4 on aggregate even though they won 3-2 on the night.For the remainder of the campaign, he started all but one of Villa’s last seven matches but only managed two goals.And Cascarino believes the impact of manager Unai Emery’s snub in the Champions League may be the source of the issue.Watkins barely touched the ball in the Everton penalty area in the 0-0 drawHe told talkSPORT’s Weekend Sports Breakfast: “When Ollie Watkins got dropped against PSG twice and they’d lost the first game in Paris and then the second game, everybody, and me included, thought Ollie Watkins would come back into the side and start again.“I think, if I remember right, I think he had like 15, 17 minutes in the performance at home at Villa Park because Villa played well that night. But Ollie had got dropped and left out.“Now what he achieved at Villa in the time before this issue came about was extraordinary. One of the main reasons they got to the Champions League was his goal scoring.“Look, his head got turned. okay, there was interest from Arsenal [in January], but he also didn’t get the loyalty from his club, from his manager.“Ollie probably felt, I’m not really wanted or I’m not as necessary as I once was.“Some people will say just get on with it, it hasn’t worked out, you haven’t had your move, just get on with it now, show us what you can do. But now, Bailey’s left the football club, there are not the same weapons for Ollie to get goals on a regular basis.”Watkins is barely averaging more than one shot per game this seasonWhat did Unai Emery say at the time?Ahead of the second leg, Emery said: “He showed us he was feeling fantastic in Southampton and scoring a goal and he played 30 minutes early, performing very well.“This is the attitude we have with the players. Try to be focused 100 per cent and try to be using their skills and qualities, helping the team. 90 minutes, 60 minutes, 45 minutes, 30 minutes or even five minutes.“This is the mentality we will need tomorrow to play the match. Everybody ready and everybody trying to get the best.”What did Ollie Watkins say at the time?Watkins, meanwhile, openly admitted his annoyance at being put on the bench after he responded with a first minute goal in a 4-1 win over Newcastle after their Champions League exit.He remarked: “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 him (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, missing 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… Rather than let it hinder you, you have to use that anger as motivation.”Watkins was only a substitute for Villa’s Champions League quarter-final first leg clash with PSGGettyWhat has happened at Aston Villa this season?Emery has found his hands tied in the Midlands as they attempt for another top four finish in the Premier League.His main additions were Evann Guessand from Nice, who joined for £26m, while Marco Bizot and Victor Lindelof were also senior players who joined permamently.That was before Harvey Elliott‘s loan with an obligation to buy from Liverpool next summer and Jadon Sancho‘s season-long switch from Manchester United.Meanwhile, they sold academy graduate Jacob Ramsey for £39m as well as Leander Dendoncker and Alex Moreno.And Leon Bailey swapped Villa for Roma with an option to buy at the end of a loan deal for the campaign.It’s been a dismal start to the season, though, with a 0-0 draw to Newcastle in their opener before 1-0 and 3-0 losses to Brentford and Crystal Palace, respectively before another stalemate with Everton this weekend.