Aston Villa are running on fumes. A chance to go 10 points clear on Tottenham ended up reopening the door for Ange Postecoglou’s team. Groggy after the short turnaround and shock result of their 4-2 defeat by Olympiakos on Thursday, Unai Emery’s side could not replicate the energy of their manager, whose frantic exhortations reflected a golden chance in danger of slipping from his grasp.
Ezri Konsa’s tired tackle on Simon Adingra served up a late penalty that Robin Olsen saved from João Pedro only for the Brazilian to nod home the rebound. It was the first goal scored by a Brighton player since March.
Brighton had not won in nine, last week’s loss to Bournemouth a crashing low. If a heavy injury list and the distraction of Europa League football are reasonable excuses, Brighton’s predictability to opponents is less excusable. And it has been argued that the seeds of their slide began against Villa in September and a 6-1 loss in which Emery’s team repeatedly triggered the counter-press.
Here was revenge for Roberto De Zerbi. Last season’s tactical revolutionary had lately become a sussed-out one-dimensional thinker. Though if his team dominated much of the game, and Pascal Gross had a goal chalked off by VAR – as did John McGinn later on – the gears were grinding. His side found a very different way to win than the free-flowing stuff that made the Italian’s reputation.
For a vocal contingent among the Villa fans, Birmingham City’s relegation had been cause for celebration though now their own worries begin, starting with Thursday in Greece. Brighton, with Adingra to the fore, were the better side from the start.
Though it was often De Zerbi’s turn to groan at his team, Emery was also performing his personal floorshow in the technical area, a series of Marcel Marceau-esque mimes as he looked desperately for answers. When Morgan Rogers, who had entered the game on a run of three goals in five games, left the field after just 15 minutes, Matty Cash came into midfield. With McGinn in a withdrawn role, and Nicolò Zaniolo unavailable, Villa lacked a link to their speedy trio of forwards.
Ollie Watkins, seeking the finish that would take him to 20 league goals, made just one promising first-half burst, a drop of the shoulder taking him beyond Lewis Dunk, only for Joël Veltman to clear the danger. Brighton were sat deeper than is customary, lessons from Villa Park eight months ago followed perhaps.
Having scored just once in five matches, and that a Burnley own goal, the home team were often as short on ideas as Villa. They remain fully capable of stringing an intricate passing move from the goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen to the opposing 18-yard box but then struggled for either a final ball or the confidence to shoot at Olsen’s goal. At such times they can resemble the shot-and goal-shy Brighton of Graham Potter rather than the incisive speed kings that led De Zerbi to be linked to some of the top jobs in Europe. Fans’ calls of “shoot” boiled with frustration at the repeated over-deliberation.
Chances did come and go. A recovered Olsen had to be brave when Adingra chased down a Danny Welbeck ball and the pair collided. The Swede concluded the half by making a grateful collection of an attempted volley from Adingra from João Pedro’s pass, and then to narrow the angles when Gross had meandered through Villa’s offside trap.
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The second half began with Villa pushed much further forward, seeking to steal the ball from those Brighton passing moves from the back. The midweek tiredness looking shaken off, Cash whizzed a long-range effort just wide as Watkins, Leon Bailey and Moussa Diaby began to motor. Austin MacPhee, Emery’s set-piece expert and Gregg Allman lookalike, became a regular presence on the sideline. One bark of instructions for Watkins to come short resulted in a corner hitting only the first man but also to McGinn’s disallowed goal, as a blocked tackle felt to him.
Villa’s renewed adventure left space for Brighton to attack, Adingra injecting pace if not always precision. The arrival of Julio Enciso for Facundo Buonanotte, one South American enigma for the other, immediately preceded João Pedro forcing a save from a sprawling Olsen. Adringra, again, was the supplier. Next, Enciso controlled a rare long ball and smashed wide, producing a primal roar from his manager. When Gross was found offside – his knee fractionally so from Igor Julio’s pass – after a lengthy VAR delay, De Zerbi retreated to his seat to dolefully await the verdict.
He would spend the nine minutes of time added on pacing his box, only to release a yell of relief at a vindicating win. Emery meanwhile winced at his team losing their edge at the wrong time.