Villa’s convincing victory despite Mings’ red card
Dean Smith heaped praise on Ollie Watkins after 10-man Aston Villa earned a convincing 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Villa only led through Bertrand Traore’s fifthminute goal, when Tyrone Mings was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in quick succession shortly before half-time.
But the hosts were much the better side after the break as well and wrapped up a 3-0 win with goals from Kortney Hause and Anwar El Ghazi.
Watkins was a thorn in Palace’s side throughout and was involved in all three goals as well as hitting a post late on.
Boss Smith said of the big-money signing from Brentford: “I wanted the Christmas present of a good performance and I certainly got that and a good result as well.
“Our counterattacking threat was there for all to see. We created numerous opportunities. Unfortunately Tyrone gets sent off, but I said at half-time there was nobody better to lead the line with 10 men than Ollie Watkins and I thought he was outstanding.
“The only thing missing was a goal.
All the lads are very appreciative of the work he’s doing. He deserved more than three assists.”
The negative was the red card for England defender Mings, meaning he will be suspended for Monday’s clash with Chelsea.
Both bookings were for clashes with Wilfried Zaha – the first for some argy-bargy after a foul by the Palace man on John Mcginn and the second for a block with his arm.
Meanwhile, Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said he could “live with a point” after his side were held to a goalless draw at Fulham.
Shane Long and Theo Walcott both looked to have broken the deadlock for the visitors in the second half, only to have their efforts ruled out for offside after VAR reviews, but Hasenhuttl said his players performed well in a tough game.
“We had four players not available and three of them were part of the first XI last time, with ( Jannik) Vestergaard, (Oriol) Romeu and (Danny) Ings,” the Austrian manager said.
“I think we did a good job – we had bigger chances, we scored two goals, one was a very close offside.
“But it’s tough here, very tough to win here, because when you concede a goal it’s nearly impossible to come back into the game – we have seen this in the past.
“So it was the most important thing first of all to have a clean sheet.”
This result sees the Saints drop out of the European places, and Hasenhuttl admitted his side wasted their opportunities.
“This is what you can be a little bit sad about, that we were a little bit unlucky in the moment of scoring,” he said.