ASTON VILLA 1 SHEFF UTD 0 EZRI DOES IT AS HEADER DOWNS 10- MAN BLADES
ASTON VILLA 1 SHEFF UTD 0
CHRIS WILDER must really hate going to Villa Park.
His Sheffield United side were denied a clear goal when Hawk- Eye failed to operate in their 0- 0 draw on last season’s restart, and the year before Wilder’s men blew a 3- 0 lead to draw with nine minutes left in the Championship.
Last night the Blades had skipper John Egan sent off in the 12th minute for pulling back Ollie Watkins.
They still might have taken the lead before the break but Villa’s new £ 20million goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez did superbly to stop John Lundstram’s penalty.
New- look Villa, who have spent £ 80m on players this summer, then went on to turn the screw.
The Blades put up a heck of a fight before defender Ezri Konsa finally broke the deadlock with a 63rd- minute header.
Victory constituted huge progress in a belated first league game for Villa, who handed debuts in the top flight to Martinez, Watkins and Matty Cash.
Manager Dean Smith persisted with the adventurous 4- 3- 3 system that helped them beat the drop last term and it made for an open start.
The game exploded into life when defender Egan saw red for dragging back Watkins, who was racing clear after a long ball from Tyrone Mings. Wilder’s men should then have taken the lead when Lundstram released Oliver Burke. He carried the ball superbly and picked out Chris Basham, who got the wrong side of Matt Targett and went down.
Lundstram stepped up to take the penalty right- footed but Martinez dived to his right to superbly push the ball behind.
Both the sending- off and penalty went to VAR, where Mike Dean chose not to overrule referee Graham Scott.
The hosts still failed to create many clear- cut chances and needed a set- piece to break the deadlock.
Mings won the first ball to flick on Targett’s delivery and Konsa rose well to head into the opposite corner.
Villa could have added to their advantage but Watkins, Trezeguet and Jack Grealish all put efforts wide of the mark.
Sheffield United slumped to a fifth successive league defeat stretching back to last term to give boss Wilder plenty to worry about. Villa, though, are looking upwards this season. ASTON VILLA ( 4- 3- 3): Martinez 8; Cash 7, Konsa 8, Mings 8, Targett 6; McGinn 6, Luiz 7, Hourihane 6 ( Davis 62, 6); Trezeguet 6, Watkins 7, Grealish 6. Goal: Konsa 63.
SHEFFIELD UNITED ( 3- 5- 2): Ramsdale 6; Basham 7 ( McBurnie 69, 6), Egan 4, O’Connell 6; Baldock 7, Lundstram 6, Berge 7, Fleck 6 ( Osborn 63, 6), Stevens 6; McGoldrick 6 ( Ampadu 31, 6), Burke 6. Sent off: Egan 12.