EPL: Villa’s resurgence continues with victory at Brighton

Aston Villa continued their fine start under Unai Emery by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday as two goals from striker Danny Ings helped them to get their first away victory in the Premier League for six months.

Villa, who beat Manchester United 3-1 last Sunday in Spanish coach Emery’s first game since succeeding Steven Gerrard, climbed to 12th in the table on 18 points after 15 games.

Brighton are seventh on 21 after 14 matches.

Brighton took the lead in the opening minute when Argentine midfielder Alexis Mac Allister intercepted a pass from Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to Douglas Luiz outside the area and lashed the ball into the net. The strike, after 49 seconds, was Brighton’s fastest ever goal in the Premier League.

Ings hauled Villa back into the game with a penalty, powering the ball past Robert Sanchez from the spot in the 20th minute after Lewis Dunk had tripped John McGinn.

The striker then put Villa in front in the 54th minute with a deft piece of skill and finish from inside the area after Luiz took revenge on Mac Allister by mugging the Argentine outside the box and slipping the ball to Ings.

Brighton, who lost midfielder Adam Lallana to injury early in the match, dominated the latter stages of the game but missed a flurry of chances and had a strong penalty appeal turned down when Solly March was felled by Lucas Digne.

The defeat halted Brighton’s impressive three-game winning streak which included a 4-1 win over Chelsea and a 3-1 victory at Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Mac Allister and coach Roberto De Zerbi were both critical of the referee for not penalising Villa’s time wasting and also felt they should have been awarded the penalty.

“In the second half there was no game. They wasted time. The referee let them waste time. We didn’t play as much as we wanted to. That’s the way they want to play football,” Mac Allister told the BBC.

Italian coach De Zerbi added: “I think we speak always about fair play in the Premier League. I didn’t see it today.

“I have one idea, one opinion but I don’t want to speak about this. I say to watch again the first penalty for them and the second for March and you can understand everything.”