Unai Emery has made no secret about the need to focus on every game for the remainder of the season. We are now at the end of the business season, and we must mean business if we can qualify for Europe for the third season in a row.
After every transfer window, football fans and media like to judge teams on their business, and this game was the perfect show to highlight the work that Monchi and his team did for Aston Villa in January.
Result: Brighton 0-3 Aston Villa
Emery made two changes from the side that beat Preston on Sunday, as John McGinn and Pau Torres came into the team with the latter making his first start for Villa since December.
As expected, the home side dominated the ball early on, with the visitors looking to exploit them from set-pieces and counter attacks.
Villa’s first chances came from headers when Ezri Konsa headed straight into the arms of Bart Verbruggen and then McGinn later headed wide of the goal.
Marcus Rashford, looking to build on his brace against Preston, was next up when Boubacar Kamara picked him out with a lofted pass, but he was left frustrated when his effort went the wrong side of the post.
The visitors continued to look a threat when Matty Cash unleashed a volley that just went over the crossbar. Brighton’s first real chance of note came through Ivorian Simon Adingra, but he continued the theme of the game, failing to find the target.
It wouldn’t be a Premier League game without VAR controversy, and this game didn’t disappoint. It arrived just after the half-hour mark. Jacob Ramsey beat Jack Hinshelwood before being brought down. Despite replays clearly showing the latter touching the player and not the ball, VAR stuck with the on-field official’s decision.
#BHAAVL – 37’
The referee’s call of no penalty to Aston Villa following a challenge by Hinshelwood on Ramsey was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed not to reach the threshold for a foul.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) April 2, 2025
Moments later, the home side came close again, but Emi Martinez was equal to Yasin Ayari’s free-kick, tipping it around the post.
Brighton fans were not happy with their side’s performance, booing them off the pitch at half time, and the Seagulls reacted coming out more on the front foot in the second half, but it was Villa who took the lead six minutes after the restart.
Martinez picked out Morgan Rogers with a quick roll out, and in turn, the England International wasted no time playing a through ball for Rashford, who was able to beat two defenders before tucking the ball past Verbruggen.
The lead didn’t last long when the home side pulled level through Adingra. However, after a lengthy stop, the goal was ruled out as Kaoru Mitoma had handled in the build-up to the goal.
Emery introduced Amadou Onana, Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio just after the hour mark and the latter was the man to double Villa’s lead with 12 minutes left on the clock.
Cash played a delicious ball down the right for Rogers, who ran into the box before cutting the ball back for the Spaniard, who scored in the bottom corner.
Fellow substitute Donyell Malen completed the rout deep in extra time to score his first goal in a Villa shirt.
A massive win for Villa and now their attentions must turn to Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
