Slick Grealish makes his point
NEAL MAUPAY’s greatest mistake here was mocking Jack Grealish’s slicked-back hairstyle, as he turned to the Aston Villa captain and mimicked him midway through the second half.
As he so often does, Grealish got his own back. With a swing of his left boot, Villa avoided a seventh defeat in nine games against a relegation rival. ‘We’re running out of superlatives for him,’ said his manager, Dean Smith.
Grealish, at 24, is a wonderful player to watch, the conductor of his club and anything short of an England callup come March would be a travesty.
He might have been tempted to rub Maupay’s nose in it, but the Brighton forward moved on to another skirmish after full-time, this time with Villa defender Ezri Konsa.
Staff and team-mates had to separate the pair, who had played together at Brentford last season. They are apparently good pals, but the red mist descended here.
Such high stakes can do that to friends, and what a welcome back this was for Pepe Reina.
Reina’s last Premier League start was in 2013, for Liverpool. Now 37 years old, here he was, between the sticks once more, though there was no Zimmer frame in sight.
But he will not want to watch back the goal he conceded to Leandro Trossard. He later made up for that error, denying Maupay with an acrobatic save. ‘Calmness personified,’ the Villa boss said of Reina. ‘His character and charisma rubs off on people.’
Graham Potter, the Brighton manager, angry with how his side let their lead slip, said: ‘One chance, one shot from a really good player and that’s the challenge we’re in.’
History tells us Grealish likes a goal against Brighton and he was his usual boisterous self here. In the 37th minute, he came close to scoring. After a run that began 15 yards inside his own half, he beat two men but dragged his shot wide.
Barely 30 seconds after that miss, Brighton were 1-0 up.
Maupay charged at Villa’s penalty area, making use of the space ahead of him before feeding Trossard. The Belgian picked out the far corner with a first-time shot.
Brighton’s supporters felt uncomfortable whenever Grealish got hold of the ball in the second half.
They knew he has the talent to hurt them, and he did just that with just a quarter of an hour remaining. A peach of a cross came in from Douglas Luiz and Grealish picked up possession before beating Mathew Ryan.
Reina then did his job in the 87th minute to deny Maupay, who was shown down the tunnel by team-mate Lewis Dunk after scrapping at full-time.