Late collapse baffles Villans manager Smith
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith branded his side’s collapse “a travesty” after Wolves struck three times in the final 10 minutes to claim a staggering 3-2 derby win.
Ruben Neves’ deflected injury-time free-kick snatched the points for the visitors after a stunning comeback from 2-0 down.
Romain Saiss and Conor Coady hauled Wolves level after Danny Ings and John McGinn looked to have earned Villa the points.
But they imploded late on and Smith was left to pick up the pieces.
“It’s a travesty we lost the game. I’m struggling to process it, but we will move on,” he said. “It was a crazy 10 minutes, you will rarely see that in football.”
Wolves boss Bruno Lage, who has rewarded his players with an extra day off, said: “These are the kind of games we will remember for a long time. Villa are a massive club and when you come to play here, are 2-0 down and win 3-2 it’s a special day for us.”
Ralph Hasenhuttl was delighted to see match-winner Armando Broja prove a point after Southampton picked up a first Premier League success of the season by beating Leeds 1-0.
On-loan Chelsea striker Broja celebrated his first top-flight start with a decisive second-half finish at St Mary’s to end the hosts’ nine-match winless run.
Saints boss Hasenhuttl had expressed doubt about the 20-year-old’s readiness to begin games at this level having been disappointed with his performance in the Carabao Cup tie at Sheffield United.
“Against Sheffield (United) I was not so happy, today it was much better,” Hasenhuttl said of Broja.
“When he has the ball he is a threat, he has the speed to go past a player and produce a shot.
“He had two other good scenes where he could score, but I must say it was a good performance.
Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa had no complaints, adding: “It was a fair result, we didn’t play well.”
Norwich drew 0-0 with Brighton, with Canaries boss Daniel Farke saying: “We ticked many boxes today.”
Opposite number Graham Potter added: “I thought maybe in the final third we struggled a little bit.”
In the late game of the day, Ben Chilwell’s goal on the stroke of half-time sealed derby success for Chelsea as they beat fellow Londoners Brentford 1-0.