Aston Villa 2 Brighton and Hove Albion 0

 When I bought the tickets for this game I wasn't expecting too much from it. Villa were on an atrocious run of form, and not looking like getting back on track. A lot of Villa fans will disagree, but when Dean Smith was sacked after we lost 1-0 to Southampton, it was probably for the best that he departed. In the meantime Steven Gerrard was given the job and it made for what looked like a more intriguing fixture and for me gave us some hope. I predicted a 2-0 victory and I was not to be disappointed, even though Villa left it until late.

For large parts of the game this still seemed like the Dean Smith performances of late, but with the ever impressive Emi Martinez in better form and making some key saves. For me the midfield looks a bit week and Marvelous isn't the answer although his break away led to the Watkins goal. Targett looked out of sorts for a big part of the season at left back and despite playing better today, you have to think he is probably the type of fullback who doesn't really fit in with Gerrard's plans. Watkins looked better once Ings had departed, and you would hope that Gerrard has the courage to not start them both and Tyrone Mings silenced his critics with a heroic performance.

Gerrard unlike Smith made some decent substitutions and it was these changes that led to the goals. Ashley Young came on and slipped the ball into Watkins who finished the move with some style, but the decoys provided by the other 2 substitutes, El Ghazi and Bailey were also important to him having space to finish off the final move. The last minute goal from Mings where he won the ball to put it back in the box and was first to react when it came out again rounded off a successful day and start to the Gerrard era. 


 

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