ASTON Villa’s win tonight was a massive statement to the rest of the Premier League.
The Villans’ trip to the south coast was, on paper, their biggest test of the season so far.
Their opponents, Brighton, were 5th in the Premier League before tonight, unbeaten at the Amex this season.
Just ten minutes before kick-off, Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez pulled out of the starting XI due to “back pain”, according to Unai Emery.
The late notice of the Argentine’s absence would’ve been incredibly frustrating for Unai Emery, who is notoriously an extremely meticulous tactician and planner.
Emery’s tactics would’ve planned for Martinez’s involvement, with the manager’s build-up style relying heavily on courageous distribution from the goalkeeper.
Martinez’s deputy Marco Bizot struggled in the early stages of the match, flapping at Ferdi Kadioglu’s corner after eight minutes.
Jan Paul Van Hecke ghosted in at the back post, heading home to make it 1-0 to Brighton.
Before tonight, Brighton had scored eight goals from substitutes this campaign – the most in the Premier League.
Stefanos Tszimas’ 24th minute injury forced manager Fabian Hurzeler to make an earlier change than planned, though, introducing Jack Hinshelwood.
Hinshelwood didn’t add any goals to that record – but his impact was swift.
Four minutes after coming on, he attempted a square ball to Yankuba Minteh, which bounced off an unexpecting Pau Torres and into the net, to put the home side 2-0 up and seemingly cruising to another three points.
In the first half an hour of the match, Villa were struggling to break into the final third and provide service to the forward players.
Struggling to create clear-cut chances has been a common theme for Emery’s men throughout the season, recording the fourth-lowest total xG in the Premier League, before this evening.
Pau Torres took the team’s creative problems into his own hands in the 37th minute, venturing past the Brighton midfield before playing a one-two with Morgan Rogers.
The Spaniard then fed Ian Maatsen at left-back, who was able to shimmy past his man and find Ollie Watkins, who tapped into an empty net.
Prior to this evening’s fixture, Watkins’ had struggled in front of goal, scoring once all campaign.
In the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, Watkins scored again.
After a mad minute where the travelling fans thought they had scored from a corner, which actually deflected off the post, Rogers fired a ball behind Brighton’s backline to Watkins, who fired low into the bottom right of Bart Verbruggen’s goal to bring Villa level.
Emery’s reaction to the goal displayed the mentality he continues to instil into his players.
He turned around and threw his coat on the floor and started shouting at the staff and players behind him.
The manager knew the game was winnable, and the momentum was now in their favour.
From a Brighton perspective, they will be incredibly frustrated with the fashion they chucked away a 2-0 lead.
They had kept three clean sheets in their last four games, so conceding two quick goals was a shock to everyone in blue and white’s systems.
With the game very much in the balance, there were no huge tactical changes from either manager at the break.
Mentally and physically, though, Villa were noticeably more fierce and aggressive from the restart.
Amadou Onana is physically, the Villans’ best player, standing at 6′ 5″ and possessing pace and power in abundance.
His goal in the 60th minute to put his team 3-2 up further marked his importance in the Villans’ turnaround, rising the highest at the back post to meet Matty Cash’s whipped corner.
Emery’s decision on 77 minutes to take off his captain, John McGinn, when defending a narrow lead, was surprising.
This wasn’t only because of how typically tenacious McGinn is when breaking up opposition attacks, but because of the type of player he made way for – a forward player, in Donyell Malen.
Malen’s recent form has been fantastic, scoring five in eight games for club and country.
Eight seconds of gameplay after his introduction, he found the net with his first touch, proving Emery’s brave substitution to be a correct one, almost instantly.
After the Dutchman was introduced, Lucas Digne took a quick throw in to the feet of Youri Tielemans, who with next touch, crossed the ball into the Brighton penalty area.
His delivery was initially met with a Brighton head, but it wasn’t strong enough to clear the penalty area.
Instead it carried on towards Watkins, who headed back across the 18 yard-box.
Evann Guessand then nodded the ball towards the goal, and was so close to finding his first Premier League goal, but for a tremendous save from Bart Verbruggen.
Verbruggen’s parry, though, could only go as far as Malen, who sent his side 4-2 up in front of a wild Villa faithful.
Succeeded with chants ridiculing Brighton’s failure hold on to a 2-0 lead, it looked like the 78th minute goal all-but sealed another memorable trip to the southern border for Aston Villa.
That was until Van Hecke scored his second of the match in the 83rd minute.
The Dutch defender hit a sweet strike into the bottom left corner.
Hope was restored for three-quarters of the Amex, with the away section silenced.
Play continued with Brighton continuing to pile on the pressure.
The majority of action was now taking place in front of the North Stand the Seagulls were attacking.
Bizot, who looked comfortable after his early mistake, was called into action one final time, providing the match-winning moment in the fourth minute of injury time.
18 year-old midfielder Charalampos Kostoulas’ shot was mishit, but found it’s way to an onrushing Danny Welbeck just outside the six-yard box, who continued the ball towards the goal with his head.
Bizot tipped Welbeck’s effort it over the top the crossbar excellently, keeping the midlands side’s lead intact, bringing a conclusion to another crazy night of Premier League football, only a day after Manchester City’s 5-4 win at Craven Cottage.
What’s next?
Tonight’s defeat won’t sound any alarms for Brighton.
They still still in seventh in the Premier League and have a young group of players, who can only gain valuable experience from matches like this.
For Villa, travelling to a fellow European contender, and putting four past them will increase their confidence massively ahead of a midday fixture at Villa Park on Saturday vs. Premier League frontrunners Arsenal.
They have only lost once in 25 games at Villa Park, and have the opportunity to go three points behind the Gunners with a win.
