Brighton 1 Aston Villa 0: Joao Pedro’s late winner gifts Tottenham lifeline in race for fourth Champions League spot
JOAO PEDRO’S late penalty put a dent in Aston Villa’s Champions League push.
The Brazilian forward hit his 20th goal of the season meaning Unai Emery’s could not qualify for the elusive competition today if Spurs lost at Liverpool.
This game was a battle between Brighton hero Simon Adingra and Villa’s stand-in goalkeeper Robin Olsen, who had big boots to fill.
The visitors had been left with a gaping Emi Martinez shaped hole after the Argentine goalkeeper was ruled out due a hamstring injury.
Adingra was at the beating heart of anything promising for Brighton, including winning the 87th minute penalty after being clipped by Ezri Konsa.
But in homage to Martinez, Olsen actually SAVED the penalty but it popped out perfectly for Pedro to head home the rebound.
Villa had conceded six goals in two games without Martinez but Olsen stepped up to the plate with a string of huge saves at the Amex to keep a respectable scoreline.
But Brighton deserved every bit of this win, leaving Roberto De Zerbi as the best looking boss in town.
Before the match he had said: “If you win and you look in the mirror you look handsome, if you lose you are stupid!” after picking up just three wins this calendar year.
Villa’s disjointed first-half reeked of a side decimated by injuries with a loaded calendar taking its toll.
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They mustered just one shot in the first half – their fewest in the opening half of any Premier League match in over a year, when they faced Leeds in 2023 (also 1).
Ivorian winger Adingra drilled a low drive straight at Olsen early on before dancing into the box again to sting the Swedish stopper’s hands with a raspign shot.
Chants of “you’re just a s*** John McGinn” aimed at Pascal Gross nearly back-fired as his corner bounced off Welbeck’s back and was a fraction away from flying into the net.
On 26 minutes Emery was forced into an early change bringing on Matty Cash for Morgan Rogers who had been stretching out an injured leg with no success.
Ollie Watkins finally came to life on 34 minutes, latching onto a Lucas Digne cross and waltzing into the box before he was snaffled up.
It was a menacing sight for Brighton fans given the striker scored a hat-trick in the reverse 6-1 pasting by Villa earlier on this season.
Adingra was at it again, bursting towards goal as Danny Welbeck tried to play him in, but Olsen bravely came off his line to mop up the damage.
The 34-year-old Olsen then made a blinding close-range save as Adingra nearly poked one in on the stroke of half-time following Pedro’s cross.
And Olsen denied Gross who was a whisker away from breaking the deadlock after latching onto a floating Adingra pass.
Emery must have given them a tongue-lashing at half-time because Matty Cash emerged from the restart and attempted a long-range screamer which shaved the crossbar.
Brighton hit back strongly though with Pedro charging towards goal and firing at Olsen, who just about palmed away the damage.
Substitute Julio Enciso also broke free after an inch-perfect Adingra cross , but blazed over.
Gross looked as though he had given the ultimate two finger salute to Villa fans’ early taunts by slotting home on 68 minutes but VAR intervened and ruled it offside.
Villa also had the ball in the net, but this time the linesman was the fun sponge, ruling out McGinn’s close-range attempt.
Drama erupted when referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot as Konsa lightly clipped the heel of Adingra.
It looked soft but VAR concurred and Pedro stepped up and headed home the rebound.
Half of the Brazilian forward’s goal tally have come from the penalty spot this term.
Even the boisterous Aston Villa fan who had whipped his shirt off to reveal a pasty belly glumly put it back on to sum up the visitors’ afternoon.
