Brighton rocked by a tale of two penalties
To begin with, a first home Premier League victory over Manchester United for 27 years. Then a longawaited, first away league win of the season.
As a start to his return to english football, the first two league games could hardly have gone much better for Unai emery.
Respected in his native Spain but at times something of a figure of fun during his time at Arsenal, his Aston Villa appointment working out will benefit emery personally as much as his club.
The reputation restoring job is well under way, continuing in the right direction after this success secured courtesy of two Danny ings goals.
Villa were 17th and only outside of the bottom three on goals scored when Steven gerrard was sacked, leaving Villa needing to turn to emery.
Two games into the emery era they are now 12th, five points clear of danger and looking up. Their momentum will be disrupted by the World Cup break which they will head into on a high.
but this unprecedented pause will also allow emery valuable time to further instil his ideas into his players ahead of games against Liverpool and Tottenham when they return.
emery said: ‘ We were in the bottom of the Premier League and the two victories gave us confidence and six points. now, we are thinking more to achieve the next position, looking up and confidence is coming for each player.’
What looked like being a landmark day for brighton ended up as one for Villa, emery and ings with assistance from the officials.
brighton’s quickest Premier League goal from Alexis Mac Allister gave them a perfect start as they went in search of the victory that would have left them in an all-time high position in the top six at Christmas.
ings’ brace either side of half-time, though, including the 100th league strike of his career, turned the game around for Villa.
brighton, who started and finished the stronger side, had reason to feel aggrieved about the penalty that led to the equaliser and grounds for complaint after being denied a second-half penalty of their own after being somehow denied despite a VAR review of Lucas Digne’s hefty, mistimed challenge on Solly March.
Villa’s time-wasting as they held on to their lead was an additional source of frustration for brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi.
He said: ‘We speak always about fair play in the Premier League. i didn’t see that today. it’s the work of the referee, not my work to deal with time-wasting. My job is to train my players and prepare them for the game.’
it was what happened in the middle of this game rather than at the start and finish that was decisive and earned emery a second win.
Villa’s start was the worst possible and emiliano Martinez might not have been relishing meeting up with Alexis Mac Allister for the World Cup at that stage.
The Argentinian pair were locked in a jovial conversation as they ran out for their warm-ups but 49 seconds in, Mac Allister wiped the smile off the Villa goalkeeper’s face.
Martinez was partially to blame too, giving Douglas Luiz a pass he could have done without as Mac Allister lurked close behind. Mac Allister duly pounced and smashed the opening goal past Martinez with the visitor’s appeals for a foul on their brazilian midfielder ignored. Luiz would later get his revenge but not before Villa had more early problems playing out from the back.
eventually, Martinez got one right, creating a chance for ings which signalled the start of Villa’s improvement. And the goal they had been threatening eventually arrived when emi buendia slid a pass through brighton’s backline which John Mcginn reached first before falling over the sliding challenge of Lewis Dunk.
Mcginn was going over before the contact was made but, again, referee Chris Kavanagh was unmoved by the appeals and ings brought up his century from the spot.
it was 101 for ings early in the second half.
brighton had one escape when buendia headed against the post. but they failed to clear their lines and Luiz dispossessed the dallying Mac Allister as roles were reversed from the game’s opener. ings twisted past Dunk before finding the net, his shot rolling past the deceived Sanchez after a deflection off the unfortunate Levi Colwill, who had an eventful full Premier League debut that included a number of eye-catching contributions from the young central defender.
Villa then had to dig in to defend their lead, surviving some frantic heart-in-mouth moments in and around their box.
Few were bigger than brighton’s penalty appeal for Digne’s foul on March. Somehow the officials refused to be swayed.
Kavanagh did take a dim view of some of Villa’s time- wasting though as they racked up the bookings as the final whistle approached.
Leandro Trossard might have levelled for brighton and Colwill should have with an 88th-minute free header.
equally, Ashley Young could have settled it for Villa. it proved to be ings who did that. BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Sanchez 6; Gross 6, Dunk 7, Colwill 7.5, Estupinan 6.5 (Lamptey 81min); Mac Allister 7, Caicedo 6; March 6, Lallana 6 (Enciso 5, 6 (Veltman 59, 60), Trossard 6.5; Welbeck 5 (Undav 59, 6). Scorer: Mac Allister 1. Booked: Gross, De Zerbi. Manager: Roberto De Zerbi 6.5 ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Martinez 7; Cash 7, Konsa 8, Mings 5.5, Digne 6.5, (Augustinsson 82); McGinn 6, Kamara 7.5, Luiz 6.5 (Dendoncker 82), Ramsey 7 (Young 69, 6); Buendia 7 (Bailey 74, 6), INGS 8 (Archer 83). Scorer: Ings 20 (pen), 54. Booked: Mings, Cash, Bailey, Young, Kamara, Martinez. Manager: Unai Emery 8. Referee: Chris Kavanagh 5. Attendance: 31, 581.