Tag: Aston Villa

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ALEXANDER-ARNOLD NETS LATE WINNER TO EDGE STUBBORN ASTON VILLA AT ANFIELD

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s superb stoppage-time goal helped Liverpool come from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 for a first home win since 16 December that boosted their hopes of a top-four finish.

Liverpool started strongly and Mohamed Salah had their best chance, but shot wide when through on goal.

Villa went ahead two minutes before half-time against the run of play, Ollie Watkins controlling John McGinn’s pass before firing beneath Alisson.

Salah drew Liverpool level on 57 minutes with their first goal from open play at Anfield in 765 minutes, nodding in after Emiliano Martinez had saved Andrew Robertson’s shot.

Trezeguet almost restored Villa’s lead but his shot hit a post, before he headed the rebound wide.

In added time, shortly after Martinez had saved spectacularly from Thiago, Alexander-Arnold curled the ball brilliantly into the far corner to win it.

By ending a run of six straight home defeats Liverpool go fourth on 52 points, while Villa are 10th on 44 points.

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TREZEGUET SCORES BRACE AS ASTON VILLA SEES OFF FULHAM WITH 3-1 WIN

Trezeguet came off the bench to score twice and Ollie Watkins added a third as three goals in nine minutes gave Aston Villa a comeback victory over Fulham.

Fulham started brightly and Aleksandar Mitrovic was twice denied by Emiliano Martinez while Villa thought they had a penalty in first-half stoppage time following Mario Lemina’s challenge on Watkins but that decision was overturned.

The visitors took the lead on 61 minutes when Mitrovic latched onto Tyrone Mings’s underhit back pass, rounded Martinez and calmly slotted home his third goal of the season.

Mings atoned for his error to set up Trezeguet for the equaliser from 20 yards with 12 minutes remaining.

Trezeguet made it two in three minutes when fellow sub Keinan Davis delivered a fine cross that the Egyptian fired home on the half-volley.

Watkins then made sure of the points with a close-range finish from Bertrand Traore’s 87th-minute cross.

The win moves Villa up to ninth spot on 44 points, two clear of Arsenal in 10th. Fulham remain in 18th spot on 26 points, three points behind Newcastle United who have a match in hand.

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WOLVES RUE MISSED CHANCES TO SETTLE FOR DRAW AT VILLA PARK

Romain Saiss’ extraordinary miss forced Wolves to settle for a goalless derby draw at Aston Villa.

The defender fired over an open goal from a yard out after Conor Coady hit the post.

Emi Martinez also denied Coady in the second half at Villa Park as the hosts drew just their fourth game of the Premier League season.

Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa hit the woodwork for Villa during a dominant first half but they lost their way after the break and relied on Saiss’ howler to claim a point.

It kept Villa ninth in the Premier League, while Wolves remain 12th with both sides now in danger of seeing their seasons fade away in the final 10 games.

Defeat at Sheffield United in midweek dented Villa’s surprise European hopes and they tried to recover quickly.

Watkins had already hit the woodwork more times than any player in the top flight this season and he struck it for a seventh time when his 25-yard rocket rattled the crossbar after four minutes.

It was a sign of things to come as, 11 minutes later, Konsa also smacked the crossbar from five yards when Tyrone Mings missed Bertrand Traore’s low cross.

Inconsistent Wolves – with three wins in their previous 14 top-flight outings – struggled to match Villa’s tempo as they pressed for an opener.

Pedro Neto tried to be proactive on the rare occasion he saw the ball but was quickly shut down by a home defence who had clearly marked him down for special treatment.

Despite Villa’s momentum, though, they never tested Rui Patricio during a first half which, the brief flashpoints aside, often lacked spark.

Watkins’ shot deflected wide three minutes into the second half but from the resulting corner, Neto fashioned the visitors’ first chance.

Coady headed clear and Neto was left racing towards goal with just Matt Targett covering.

He forced the forward wide, but Martinez still had to parry his shot behind.

It was the cue for Wolves to up their game and Saiss somehow missed his golden chance after 57 minutes.

A neat short corner saw Neto cross for an unmarked Coady at the far post and the defender – who scored his first Premier League goal against Manchester City on Tuesday – planted a diving header against the post.

The ball bounced across goal but a stretching Saiss managed to lift the ball over from almost under the bar.

It was a huge let off for Villa who had dropped from their first-half levels to allow Wolves to wrestle back control.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were chasing a winner and Martinez bailed Villa out with 14 minutes remaining.

Ross Barkley inexplicably played the ball back into the box after Joao Moutinho’s free-kick and Willian Jose’s shot deflected to Coady five yards out.

He had just Martinez to beat, but the goalkeeper raced out to turn his shot wide from point-blank range.

But Villa almost stole it in injury time when Patricio’s low save denied Watkins and Konsa lashed the rebound wide.

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EPL: EL GHAZI EARLY GOAL FIRES ASTON VILLA TO VICTORY AT LEEDS

Anwar El Ghazi’s early goal clinched Aston Villa a 1-0 win at Leeds and lifted his side to within a point of the Premier League’s top six.

El Ghazi was left unmarked to turn home the only goal from close range in the fifth minute and dogged defending saw Villa avenge their 3-0 home defeat to Leeds in October.

Villa secured just their second win in seven league games on the road, while Leeds’ see-saw first season back in the top flight continued.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were denied back-to-back home wins after Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat of Southampton and were rarely allowed to hit the same heights.

When Raphinha went close to scoring inside the opening 30 seconds – he just failed to connect with Patrick Bamford’s cross – it appeared this would be another game at Elland Road this season that you could not take your eyes off.

But while it ebbed and flowed in the first half, Villa shut down their opponents after the interval and for Leeds the game ended in a whimper.

Villa had a penalty appeal turned down when a corner struck Luke Ayling on his arm and then capitalised on sloppy Leeds defending to take a fifth-minute lead.

Ollie Watkins slipped as he fired at goal, but the ball found its way to the unmarked El Ghazi on the six-yard box and although he too lost his footing, he steered home his sixth league goal of the season.

Leeds responded through Tyler Roberts, but his thumping effort was well saved by Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and then El Ghazi twice went close to extending Villa’s lead.

The Dutchman’s first shot was tipped over the crossbar by Illan Meslier and he pulled his second, a low effort, just wide.

Stuart Dallas fired in a low shot and home skipper Liam Cooper headed straight at Martinez as Leeds chased an equaliser.

El Ghazi maintained his shoot-on-sight policy, but was wayward with another effort and at the other end Helder Costa’s low shot was blocked and Roberts fired over, with Leeds restricted to half-chances as half-time beckoned.

Leeds continued to force the issue at the start of the second period, but the killer pass eluded them.

Cooper did just enough to divert Villa captain Tyrone Mings’ header wide from a corner, but the free-flowing action before the break made way for a more scrappy affair.

Villa doggedly defended their slender lead and both sides were guilty of halting play with niggling fouls.

Leeds struggled to break down a resilient defence and when substitute Jack Harrison’s late cross offered them their best chance of rescuing a point, Raphinha fluffed his header.

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DEAN SMITH TO INVESTIGATE JACK GREALISH INJURY LEAK

ASTON VILLA boss Dean Smith has vowed to investigate how news of Jack Grealish’s injury was leaked on social media.

The skipper missed Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Leicester with a shin problem, but rumours he was out surfaced at least 24 hours before the game.

Without Grealish, Villa saw James Maddison and Harvey Barnes strike in the first half to lift the Foxes up to second in the Premier League, ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Newcastle later in the day.

Bertrand Traore pulled a goal back to ensure Leicester had to work for the points after outclassing Villa before the break.

But Smith was unhappy that news of their star player’s absence had emerged online.

He said: “I was made aware on social media there were rumours he was not going to play. If that is coming out of our training ground I will find out where it is coming from and reprimand whoever it is coming from.

“It certainly does (give the opposition a leg up). It is something I would not be happy with.

“It’s not going to be a long-term injury, but I’m guided by the medical staff and Jack himself. I don’t put the loss down to Jack not being in the team.

“I felt their big players turned up and ours didn’t in the first half. Jack is going to be a loss because he’s an exceptional player, but we still have a good enough team to beat Leicester.

“It took some harsh words at half-time to lift us. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing in League Two or the Premier League, you have to earn the right to play.”

Leicester threatened to run riot during a dominant first half and Maddison scored his 11th goal of the season when he curled in off the post after 19 minutes.

Four minutes later it was 2-0 as Barnes smashed in from close range when Emi Martinez failed to hold Jamie Vardy’s shot.

The winger now has 13 goals this term and impressed again in front of England boss Gareth Southgate.

The visitors looked on course for a comfortable win, but Traore made it 2-1 from close range three minutes after the break.

Yet, despite Villa’s improved second half, they failed to beat Kasper Schmeichel again.

Boss Brendan Rodgers said: “My ambition was to get European football for the club and see if we could disrupt the market.

“Everyone knows what Champions League football brings to a club – but also a city – but I tend to not think about it so much. Especially when we are so far out.

“It was an outstanding team performance in the first half. Our football was exceptional and we scored two very good goals.

“After midweek travel and a European game, the players really have to show their spirit and quality. I was so pleased and very proud of the team.”

Victory was tempered after Maddison was forced off with a hip problem in the second half.

“He had this issue last season and felt it in the game and we had to take him off as a precaution,” added Rodgers, with the midfielder now a doubt for Thursday’s Europa League last-32 second-leg clash with Slavia Prague.

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JACK GREALISH EYEING TOP FOUR FINISH FOR VILLA

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has targeted at least a top-10 finish in the Premier League this season.

Villa, who play at home against Leicester on Sunday, are currently eighth and Grealish admits that is more than he had hoped for after last season’s relegation scare.

“It’s been a better season than we expected. In our heads, we’re all looking at finishing as high as possible,” the England midfielder told Villa’s official website.

“Whether that be 10th, ninth, eighth, seventh – that’s where we should be aiming now in my opinion.

“We’re in a good place, we still have a few games in hand, but we have a few sticky games coming up now, which will obviously be tough.”

Following Sunday’s clash with Leicester, Villa head to Leeds and then take on Wolves at Villa Park.

“Leicester are one of the most in-form teams in the league at the moment and they’ve got great players all over the pitch,” Grealish said.

“We know how much of a tough game that will be, but we just need to take it one game at a time.”

Villa narrowly avoided an instant return to the Sky Bet Championship last season, finishing one place and a point above the bottom three.

But they made a flying start to the current campaign, winning their first four top-flight fixtures and have rarely been outside the top 10.

Grealish, who has scored six goals and made 12 assists, has been instrumental in Villa’s progress under boss Dean Smith and he wishes a full house at Villa Park on matchday had been there to see it.

“With us having one of the best seasons we’ve had for a while, it would have been lovely if the fans were here this season,” he added.

“There are plenty of players that are playing week-in-week-out and have never played at Villa Park with it half full, never mind when it’s packed out.

“I’ve told them all a fair bit about what it’s like, saying ‘wait and see what it’s like when it’s fully packed out’. Hopefully that can happen soon.”

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MARTINEZ RESCUES VILLA IN BRIGHTON DRAW

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was the hero as his side held Brighton & Hove Albion to a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.

Brighton had the better of the chances in the first half, with Leandro Trossard and Dan Burn denied superbly by Martinez.

Although Ross Barkley fired an effort straight at Robert Sanchez for the visitors, Brighton continued to threaten after the interval.

Alexis Mac Allister’s deflected shot drew another smart stop from Martinez and, after Neal Maupay fired just wide, Joel Veltman and Adam Lallana were also kept out by the Argentinian, who made nine saves in total to keep his 12th clean sheet of the season.

Villa move up to eighth place with 36 points, four points behind fourth-placed Liverpool, with two matches in hand.

Brighton, who extended their unbeaten Premier League run to a club-record six matches, are 15th on 26 points

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DEAN SMITH FUMES AT VILLA PLAYERS FOR WESTHAM LOSS.

Dean Smith fumed at Aston Villa’s “Sunday League football” defending as his side went down 3-1 at home to West Ham.

It was Tomas Soucek and a double from Hammers debutant Jesse Lingard that did all the damage with Ollie Watkins striking what proved to be a mere consolation goal.

The result was Villa’s first defeat in four games at Villa Park while it leaves them ninth in the Premier League table.

Speaking afterwards, Smith was asked about what went wrong, and said: “Three horrendous goals we gave away. We didn’t play well. The better team won on the night and we weren’t our usual selves nor did we play with the same tempo we had been in previous games. We gave three awful goals away and you can’t do that at this level.

Listen, we’ve taken a short goal kick, gone forward to Ollie Watkins, it’s broke down and a midfield runner has broke off the back of us and scored. Then, we concede a goal from a counter attack when it’s our free-kick. In fact, Matt Targett does well to get himself out of that situation but we’re left three-vs-one. It’s Sunday League football, you wouldn’t do that and we got punished for it.

“We got ourselves back in the game with a ball down the side for Ollie. It was a good ball from Jack, another assist, and it looked like we were most-likely to get an equaliser but, again, the ball’s broke down again in the centre circle and have gone through and they’ve scored a poor third goal.”

Smith refused to blame Emi Martinez for a rare rick as the ball sailed through the Argentinian to make it 3-1.

The Villa boss added: “The third one he will feel he could do better with, that’s for sure but I’m certainly not going to moan about my goalkeeper making mistakes when he’s kept 10 clean sheets this season and has been one of our best players so far. He’s earned the right to make a mistake.”

Smith was asked about fatigue factor following the third game in a week, but said: “It’s not so much fatigue I don’t think. I’m never one to use that excuse. We had more days’ rest going into this game than we will do for Saturday’s game. We just didn’t have our usual tempo about us today.

“I just don’t think we had a zip about us tonight. I don’t know why. They were brighter than us. We made a change at half time to liven us up, we did that but we gave really poor goals away tonight and we can’t afford to do that at this level.”

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LINGARD NETS DEBUT DOUBLE AS WESTHAM BOUNCE BACK TO WIN 3-1 AT VILLA PARK.

Jesse Lingard marked his West Ham United debut with two second-half goals as David Moyes’ side beat Aston Villa 3-1 at Villa Park.

Both teams had first-half chances, Ollie Watkins clipping the outside of a post for the hosts and Tomas Soucek curling narrowly wide.

It was Soucek who broke the deadlock, latching on to Said Benrahma’s through-ball and picking out the bottom-left corner six minutes after the restart.

Lingard doubled West Ham’s lead five minutes later, controlling Michail Antonio’s cross on his chest before firing across Emiliano Martinez.

Watkins halved the deficit following a neat exchange with Jack Grealish but Lingard removed any chance of a Villa comeback with another finish through Martinez seven minutes from time.

A third straight away Premier League victory lifts West Ham to fifth with 38 points, two behind fourth-placed Liverpool.

Villa are six points behind the Hammers in ninth, with two matches in hand.

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CHRIS WOOD HEADER SECURES 3-2 WIN FOR BURNLEY AGAINST ASTON VILLA.

Chris Wood’s 79th-minute header secured back-to-back victories for Burnley as they came from behind to win 3-2 against Aston Villa.

Ollie Watkins finished Matt Targett’s left-wing cross with the outside of his foot to put Villa in front on 14 minutes.

Burnley equalised in the 52nd minute when Ben Mee headed in powerfully from Ashley Westwood’s inswinging corner.

Jack Grealish was denied a wonderful solo goal by Nick Pope, but the Villa captain did score in the 68th minute, sliding in a low volley from Douglas Luiz’s centre.

The hosts hit back eight minutes later, with Dwight McNeil’s cross inadvertently finding the bottom corner.

And Wood glanced in McNeil’s cross at the back post with 11 minutes remaining to complete a remarkable turnaround.

Burnley sit 15th with 22 points, while Villa drop to 10th on 29 points.