Aston Villa got back to winning ways with a 1-0 win at Villa Park, while Jack Hinshelwood’s own goal in the final minute handed Brighton yet another defeat.
In the 86th minute, a tense game played under the lights, Tyrone Mings’ header from a corner kick was deflected by a Brighton player. Earlier, Ferdi Kadioglu came close to finding the breakthrough, only for Emiliano Martinez to fire his shot over the bar.
It was a bit tough on Fabian Hürzeler, who was under pressure after Sunday’s loss to Crystal Palace, given Villa were hardly able to produce anything. But it was Unai Emery who had the last smile on his face after two consecutive home defeats in the Premier League. Villa are currently 5 points adrift of fourth place.
Jack Hinshelwood scores an own goal late in the game to give Villa the lead.
The quality was poor in the first half, but the early appearance of James Milner, making his record-equalling 653rd Premier League appearance, was notable. The 40-year-old midfielder was needed when Carlos Baleva, who had been booked after luckily escaping a red card, was hooked.
It was a more competitive performance as Brighton, who were in poor form, played Villa man-to-man and limited their opponents. The home side’s second half push to attack the Holte end never really materialised, with the Seagulls starting the game better after the break.
But it was Villa, in his 200th Villa appearance, who, with Mings’ help, scored the winner. The goals weren’t pretty, as were the performances, but points were everything after mistakes against Everton and Brentford. Emery’s team is back on track.
Emery: We needed to win.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery said this at a press conference.
“We needed to win. How? Sometimes we play well, sometimes we play bad. We needed to regain confidence through results and continue to build through the structure we have. Those three points are really important.”
“We could have been better in the first half, but we were even in the first half. We were a bit worse in the second half, but we were even in the first half. But we took advantage of the set-pieces and tried to take advantage of them. A draw could have been a reasonable result, but we lost two games when we were doing really well (here).”
Regarding Tyrone Mings’ performance, he said: “He played a great game and scored a great goal. We were aggressive and passionate together and with the power we had we were able to win from set pieces.”
Asked if the win was even more important after Chelsea and Manchester United dropped points, he said: “Not really, I don’t want to talk about other teams. We’re focused on our own way. Other teams will win or lose, but if we lose, we lose. Today we got 50 points, which is great.”
Hürzeler: We didn’t deserve to lose.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler said in a press conference.
“We all know we don’t deserve to lose. We all know we definitely should have lost more. The first half was tense, but in the second half we dominated and controlled the game.
“If we were more ruthless we would score and in games like this the first team to score wins. Unfortunately Aston Villa did it out of nowhere.”
“I feel sorry for the team, but we have to take responsibility, we have to keep pushing and one day we will sit here as winners.”
Asked about the decision to substitute Carlos Baleva, he said: “It was a bad decision by the referee to give him a yellow card. They need to understand that if you give him a yellow card early on, it throws off the whole game plan. We have to take responsibility, but I think they have to take responsibility too.”
“We have to avoid the second yellow and we have to protect our young players. I’ve seen many of these fouls and 99 percent of the time they don’t give you a yellow card. So I don’t really understand it.”
On James Milner and his record-matching exploits: “He’s a role model for young players, he’s professional, he’s incredibly disciplined and it’s no coincidence that he proves every day that he’s capable of playing in the Premier League, especially today against tough opponents.
“It’s an honor to work with him and we’re grateful to have him on our team, not only as a player, but also as a person.”
