Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S DRIVING BLADES WILD
Chris suffers from Villa Park hoodoo... again
CHRIS WILDER must really hate coming to Villa Park.
His Blades were denied a clear goal, when Hawk-eye inexplicably failed in their 0-0 draw after the restart last t e r m . Th e ye a r b e f o re , in the Championship, Wilder’s men blew a 3-0 lead to draw with nine minutes left. Now, this latest setback adds to Wi l d er ’s cat alogu e of misery in the Midlands. The Blades had skipper John Egan sent off in the 12th minute for pulling back Ollie Watkins (left). They still might have taken the lead before the break when awarded a penalty. But Villa’s new £20million keeper Emiliano Martinez did superbly to save John Lundstram’s spot-kick. New-look Villa, who spent £80m on players, went on to turn the screw to eventually prevail. The hard-working, disciplined Blades put up a heck of a fight. But defender Ezri Konsa finally broke the deadlock as he headed home in the 63rd minute. It was a huge relief to the hosts, who dropped points last term against West Ham, Arsenal, Watford and Bournemouth despite having an extra man.
This constituted huge progress in their belated opening game in the Premier League this term. And optimism is growing f u r t h e r a f t e r Vi l l a handed Premier League debuts to their new trio of Martinez, Matty Cash and Ollie Wa t k i n s , w h o a l l impressed.
Boss Dean Smith persisted with the adventurous 4-3-3 formation which helped them beat the drop in the runin last term. It made for an open start with both teams having chances.
The game exploded into life when Blades skipper Egan was sent off. The defender got his marching orders from referee Graham Scott for pulling back Watkins, who was racing clear on to a long ball from defender Tyrone Mings.
It did not bode well for the visitors, who had failed to win any of the previous 10 Premier League games in which they received a red card.
But Wilder’s men should have taken the lead as Lundstram released Oliver Burke, who carried the ball superbly and picked out Chris Basham. He got the wrong side of Matt Ta rg e tt a n d w e n t down. Lundstram stepped up to take the penalty right-footed, but debutant Martinez dived to his right to push the ball behind.
Both the sending off and penalty went to VAR where Mike Dean chose not to overrule the referee. The hosts needed a set-piece to break the deadlock. Mings won the first ball, to flick on Targett’s delivery, and Konsa rose to head into the opposite corner.
Villa could have added to their goal, but Watkins, Trezeguet and Jack Grealish put efforts wide. The Blades slumped to a fifth successive league defeat stretching back to last term, but Villa are looking upwards this season.