Brighton winger Simon Adingra was the best player throughout and he forced Olsen, who filled in for the injured Emi Martinez superbly, into an early save. Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa, Joao Pedro penalty halts Villa’s charge for Champions League
Villa struggled to find any rhythm which was hindered further when the in-form Morgan Rogers was forced off in just the 24th minute with a muscle injury.
Ollie Watkins showed his quality with a nice touch to get away from Adam Webster yet Villa saw very little of the Brighton goal with all the action coming up the other end.
Brighton made three changes from their 3-0 at Bournemouth last weekend with Adam Webster, Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck coming in for Odeluga Offiah, Valentin Barco and Mark O’Mahony. Robin Olsen started in goal for Aston Villa with Emi Martinez still sidelined by injury. Pau Torres and Diego Carlos came in for Matty Cash and Clement Lenglet. The hosts had two chances in added time with Adingra unable to steer a cross past Olsen before the Villa goalkeeper made a crucial save from Gross at close range.
Olsen continued his fine form in the second half when Adingra played Joao Pedro through on goal and the striker was denied by the towering goalkeeper.
Brighton thought they had finally taken the lead when Gross turned in from Igor’s left-wing cross but after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out.
Villa then saw McGinn’s strike flagged offside when he had tucked home after the ball ricocheted to him inside the box while Brighton striker Danny Welbeck saw his header drop wide.
Brighton pushed for a winner and got their reward when Adingra got the wrong side of Ezri Konsa and went down in the box. Olsen dived to his right and kept out Pedro’s penalty, but the ball sat up nicely for the Brighton forward to head in.
Joao Pedro’s goal was his 20th of the season, making him the first player to score 20+ goals in a single season for Brighton across all competitions since Glenn Murray in 2016-17 (23). Brighton have beaten Aston Villa at home in the Premier League for the very first time, and for the first time at home across all competitions since December 1980, ending an eight-match winless run at home against the Villans (D4 L4) since a 1-0 win at the Goldstone Ground under Alan Mullery. Aston Villa had just two shots against Brighton, their fewest in a Premier League match since May 2016 vs Newcastle United (also 2), while only against Manchester United in August 2005 (1) have they had fewer on record in the competition (from 2003-04).
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi picked up his fifth booking of the season, with no manager in the Premier League receiving more cards this season than him (Mikel Arteta also with 5). Overall, De Zerbi has now picked up 11 cards in the league during his time at Brighton, with the Italian also receiving the most cards last season in the Premier League (6 – 4 yellow, 2 red).
Source SkySport
