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Aston Villa returned to winning ways with a 0-2 win over former Villa boss Dean Smith and his Norwich City team. It means that Steven Gerrard has now won four from a possible six since becoming the new Villa manager. His only defeats came against Manchester City and Liverpool.
Gerrard was forced into one change following the defeat against Liverpool the weekend as Emi Buendia replaced the injured Marvelous Nakamba.
Gerrard promised we would see a much different Villa side from the one we watched the weekend and he wasn’t wrong as Villa were out the traps quickly as Norwich looked all over the place.
It took Villa just 34 minutes to take the lead through Jacob Ramsey. Ollie Watkins held the ball up for the wonderkid before he danced through the Norwich defence and smashed a left-footed shot past Tim Krul.
Villa had numerous efforts to double their lead in the first half but couldn’t take their chances. Norwich looked better in the second half but Villa eventually killed the game off three minutes from time.
Carney Chukwuemeka broke through the Norwich defence before smashing a ball across the goal for Watkins to tap in at the far post.
Norwich remains bottom as Villa jump up to ninth in the Premier League.
The Good
- Villa looked mesmerizing at times with the ball in the first half. They pressed high with very good intensity. The football on show was a joy to watch.
- Many tipped Jacob Ramsey to flourish under Steven Gerrard and once again he impressed with a man of the match performance.
- Special mentions for both Douglas Luiz and John McGinn who bossed the midfield from the opening minute.
The Bad
- Many Villa fans will tell you that you get a good half and a bad half with Villa. This could be the only real complaint in an almost perfect away performance. When they were on the back foot though they looked comfortable and never looked like they would concede.
- The officials in the Premier League are becoming consistently bad. Regardless of who plays, they are making bad decisions. Villa will feel unlucky to not pick up a penalty when Watkins was brought down in the penalty area.
Up next
Aston Villa v Burnley
Saturday, 18th December 2021.
Another difficult game for Villa who will have to grind out a result if they are to take anything from this game. Burnley will come, sit deep and happily try and nick a goal when they can.
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