Brighton 1-2 Aston Villa
at Falmer Stadium
by Gene Sylvester

UNAI EMERY’S Aston Villa came away from the south coast with an invaluable three points following a pulsating game at the Falmer Stadium.

Danny Ings was the Villains’ hero on the day, bagging both goals as Emery’s troops fought back from an early setback to win the game 2-1, in a match that was littered with contentious refereeing decisions and VAR checks.

The victory gave Villa their first back-to-back wins since May, which Emery believes will give his players the belief to push on after the World Cup break.

“These two victories have given us confidence and points. I am proud of the players and fans today.”

The shrill of the referee’s whistle had barely faded when Brighton took the lead after 49 seconds, the second-fastest goal in the Premier League this season, and it was World-Cup bound Argentinian Alexis Mac Allister who was the beneficiary.

Villa were the architect of their own downfall as keeper Emi Martinez played teammate Douglas Luiz into trouble with a risky pass into midfield with Alexis Mac Allister breathing down his neck.

The Brighton number 10 pounced on the opportunity to steal the ball away, outmuscling his Brazilian counterpart to the floor before taking the ball on and firing past Martinez in the Villa goal.

The Villains looked shell shocked and shaky for the period following the goal but soon started to find their rhythm and pose their own questions to a Brighton team who were aiming for three wins on the bounce, which would have been the first time they had achieved this feat since 2018 under Chris Hughton.

Villa captain John Mcginn’s 19th minute run in behind Brighton’s defence was found by Emiliano Buendia’s clever slide rule ball, with the Scottish international beating Lewis Dunk to the ball but a sliding challenge from the Seagulls captain brought the Villa captain down and referee Christopher Kavanagh pointed to the spot immediately.

Ings stepped up to dispatch the penalty straight down the middle of the goal, with Robert Sanchez getting the faintest of fingertips to the ball, but it wasn’t enough to keep the ball out of the net.

Eight minutes into the second half, Villa were in front, courtesy of Ings’s second goal of the day, which bore a heavy resemblance to Brighton’s opener.

It was Luiz and Mac Allister who were involved again, but this time the roles were reversed with the Brazilian picking the pocket of the Argentinian, following a dangerous pass from Pascal Gross.

Luiz’s challenge prodded the ball straight to Ings in the Brighton penalty area, who skipped past Dunk’s rash sliding challenge and then fired a low shot at goal which deflected off Colwill’s calf and squirmed past the Brighton keeper and into the net.

Brighton laid siege on Martinez’s goal for the remainder of the match and should have been awarded a penalty in the 70th minute when Lucas Digne seemed to get caught in possession in his own penalty area by Solly March.

The Brighton winger seemed to beat Digne to the ball as the Villa man attempted to clear the ball up field, inadvertently catching the Brighton man’s calf in the process.

A lengthy VAR check ensued and, much to everyone who saw the incident’s surprise, no penalty was given.

Following the final whistle, Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi spoke of his frustration at Villa’s time-wasting during the final moments of the game.

“Yes, a lot of wasting time, too much wasting time. I think the referee had to control the game. For this situation, I was angry and frustrated.”