Brighton 3-4 Aston Villa: Visitors come from two goals down to win seven-goal thriller to move third in Premier League

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Brighton 3-4 Aston Villa: Visitors come from two goals down to win seven-goal thriller to move third in Premier League

Aston Villa came from two goals down to edge a chaotic seven-goal thriller at Brighton, with their 4-3 win sending them third in the Premier League.

Villa suffered a nightmare start on the south coast as an error from goalkeeper Marco Bizot – a late replacement for Emiliano Martinez – and Pau Torres’ own goal saw Brighton go 2-0 up after 29 minutes.

But Ollie Watkins’ double, which ended his 11-game goal drought, sensationally brought Villa level before half-time.

Emery confirms Martinez back injury

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery confirmed after the game that Emi Martínez was unable to start the game after suffering from a back injury during the warm-up.

Martínez was replaced by Marco Bizot ahead of kick-off.

Villa completed the comeback through Amadou Onana’s 60th-minute header before substitute Donyell Malen scored with his first touch to give Villa a two-goal lead in the 78th minute.

But Brighton threatened a comeback of their own as Jan Paul van Hecke scored his second of the game just five minutes later.

Bizot then atoned for his mistake for Van Hecke’s opener with a fine stoppage-time save to deny Brighton substitute Danny Welbeck and ensure Villa held on for a sixth straight win in all competitions.

The dramatic victory moves Unai Emery’s side six points off leaders Arsenal, whom they face on Saturday at Villa Park.

Brighton, who suffered a first home defeat this season, drop to seventh but will have the chance to bounce back on Sunday as they host West Ham, live on Sky Sports.

Sunday 7th December 1:00pm

Kick off 2:00pm

Watkins: I can put hard times behind me

Player ratings

Brighton: Verbruggen (6); Wieffer (6), Van Hecke (8), Dunk (5), Kadioglu (5); Baleba (6), Gomez (6); Minteh (5), Gruda (6), De Cuyper (6); Tzimas (6).

Subs: Hinshelwood (7), Welbeck (6), Kostoulas (6), Veltman (6).

Aston Villa: Bizot (6); Cash (6), Konsa (6), Torres (6), Maatsen (6); Kamara (6), Onana (8); Guessand (6), McGinn (6), Rogers (8); Watkins (9).

Subs: Digne (6), Tielemans (6), Malen (7), Buendia (n/a), Bogarde (n/a).

Player of the Match: Ollie Watkins.

Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins speaking to Sky Sports:

“I think since the managers come in, I’ve scored a lot of goals, and got assists. 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 and now I can put that behind me and keep looking forward.

“We’re in an amazing place. Even though I wasn’t scoring, I looked at the bigger picture where we’re further in the league.

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

Emery: The players are understanding they need to be consistent

Emery makes Villa history

This victory for Aston Villa was Unai Emery’s 62nd in the Premier League with the Villans, the most of any manager across the club’s history in the competition – overtaking John Gregory and Martin O’Neill (both 61).
This was just the third time that Aston 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.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports:

“The players are getting the challenge to be consistent. Marco Bizot was fantastic after Emi Martinez was injured. Marco is a really fantastic guy, fantastic professional. His role is clear and he accepted it. When he is playing like how he did today, we are so, so proud of him.

“Today, as well, Watkins scored goals. Amadou [Onana] scores a set-piece goal. Its something we are working and have been missing. Today we achieved it.

“We’ve needed other players scoring goals like they did today. I’m proud of how the players are responding. This is the way we want to build, to create here in our structure.

On Watkins: “When Watkins is doing his task, he’s playing fantastic. Sometimes scoring, sometimes not. He was a long time without scoring, today he scored and he got that balance. He needs to keep calm and keep going.”

Hurzeler: Small margins cost us

Brighton unwanted first in 21st century

This was the first time that Brighton had scored three goals in a home league game but still lost since a 4-3 home defeat to Rochdale in the fourth tier in December 1999.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler speaking to Sky Sports:

“There are small margins that made the difference. it’s about how you react and two set-pieces made the difference. These are the small margins. Overall, we saw a team that never gave up and had the belief to win this game.

“Overall, we defended it quite well in the season so far. It’s not easy to defend set-pieces. The blocking of the goalkeeper, we still don’t have a clear rule for that.

“It’s not easy to concede goals and we want to react. We have to challenge adversity we face in the game, and we have to be better.

“It was a matter of small margins. They scored in the second half after two set pieces and that’s the difference. We have to do better and keep improving.”