Fabian Hürzeler has had better weeks. After the agony of being dumped out of the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday by Nottingham Forest in a penalty shootout, there was more heartache for the Brighton manager as Marcus Rashford’s third goal in his last two matches, yet another for Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen’s first for the club gave Aston Villa a crucial victory in the battle for a top-five finish.
It meant Unai Emery’s side moved above Brighton and vastly improved their chances of matching last season’s achievement of qualifying for the Champions League. They still have to play fourth- and fifth-placed Manchester City and Newcastle in the run-in but after making some shrewd acquisitions in January, including Rashford and Asensio – who now has eight goals for Villa since joining on loan from Paris Saint-Germain – you wouldn’t bet against them doing it.
Hürzeler criticised his team for “playing soft” during their defeat to Forest and urged them to take out their frustrations on a Villa side that began the game two points behind them in the table. With fears that both record signing Georginio Rutter and Adam Webster could be out for the season after limping off against Forest, the Brighton manager made five changes, with Brajan Gruda entrusted with the No 10 role in Rutter’s absence.
It took Villa’s fans less than five minutes to remind their hosts that they are heading to Wembley later this month to face Brighton’s arch-rivals Crystal Palace with a chorus of ‘Que Sera’. With the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against PSG to look forward to as well next week, Emery made only two changes from the side that eased past Preston as John McGinn was deployed in an more advanced role.
The Scotland midfielder came close to opening the scoring when his header from a Lucas Digne cross went wide as Villa made the more promising start. Rashford – Villa have an option to make his move from Manchester United permanent in the summer for £40m – had sight of goal after an immaculate touch to control a long ball forward but screwed his shot wide. Matty Cash was much closer with a powerful drive that whistled just over the crossbar, while Simon Adingra curled his effort inches past the far post following a swift break downfield involving Kaoru Mitoma.
The livewire Emery was by far the more active of the two managers on the touchline, although Hürzeler sprang to his feet when the referee Stuart Attwell waved away appeals for a penalty after Mitoma went down rather easily under pressure from Cash inside the area. The Villa full-back could not resist offering his own opinion that the Japan forward had dived as the pair had to be separated by the fourth official Simon Hooper.
Mitoma forced Emi Martínez into a save before Villa had their own appeals for a penalty turned down despite the video assistant referee taking a long look at Jack Hinshelwood’s challenge on Jacob Ramsey. Brighton felt they had another shout for a penalty when Yasin Ayari’s free-kick cannoned back off the post and struck Ramsey on the arm but again Attwell said no.
It was going to take something special or a lapse in concentration for one side to break the deadlock and there was a bit of both about Rashford’s goal at the start of the second half. Jan Paul van Hecke’s header from a corner was straight at Martínez and the Villa goalkeeper wasted no time finding Morgan Rogers with a quick throw. His pass over the top was perfect for Rashford to race on to and he squeezed the ball past Bart Verbruggen into the net via a deflection.
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Brighton thought they had found the perfect riposte when Adingra swept from close range minutes later but, much to Hürzeler’s annoyance, VAR ruled out the goal after replays showed Mitoma had used his arm to control the ball in the buildup. A fit-again Ollie Watkins was one of three Villa substitutes as Rashford’s night came to an end midway through the second half, with Emery attempting to close out the victory.
Not to be outdone, Hürzeler made a quadruple change for Brighton as Danny Welbeck and Carlos Baleba were summoned from the bench. But it was Asensio who made the difference when he finished off a lightning quick break to fire home a pass from Rogers before Malen rounded off the scoring in injury-time to give Villa’s Champions League hopes a real shot in the arm.
