Fabian Hürzeler has had more enjoyable weeks. After being dumped out of the FA Cup quarter-finals here 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 past two games, yet another for Marco Asensio, and Donyell Malen’s first for the club gave Aston Villa a crucial win in the battle for a top‑five finish.
It meant Unai Emery’s side moved above Brighton and vastly improved their chances of matching their achievement last season of qualifying for the Champions League. They still have to play the fourth- and fifth-placed Manchester City and Newcastle in the run-in after hosting Forest on Saturday. Yet 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.
“The most important thing is how he is feeling – how he is recovering confidence in himself and concentrating on playing football,” Emery said of Rashford’s impact. “But everything with him is getting progressively better and it’s the same with Marco [Asensio]. We signed these players because we knew they could help us.”
Hürzeler criticised his team for “playing soft” against Forest but they were again outfought by a well‑drilled Villa outfit. There was frustration when Simon Adingra’s equaliser was disallowed for handball just after Rashford’s opener but more than a smattering of boos greeted the third from Malen – who joined Villa from Borussia Dortmund in January – in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
“It’s not easy when all the little things go against you, you try to force it in some moments and we didn’t have the right answer,” said Hurzeler, whose team face a trip to play their arch-rivals Crystal Palace on Saturday. “We have a chance to make it better.”
It took Villa’s fans less than five minutes to remind their hosts that they are heading to Wembley this month to face 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 was delighted that Ollie Watkins was able to return from injury as a second-half substitute alongside Asensio and Malen.
It was Villa’s bench that made the difference, although the option to make Rashford’s move permanent from Manchester United in the summer for £40m is looking more and more attractive by the day.
The referee, Stuart Attwell, waved away appeals for a first-half penalty after Kaoru Mitoma went down rather easily under pressure from Matty Cash inside the area. Emery could not resist offering his own opinion that the Japan forward had dived as he and Hürzeler had to be separated by the fourth official Simon Hooper.
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.
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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 Emi 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 via a deflection.
Brighton thought they had found the perfect riposte when Adingra swept home from close range but VAR correctly ruled out the goal after replays showed Mitoma had used his arm to control the ball in the buildup.
Rashford’s night came to an end midway through the second half as Emery attempted to close out the victory with a triple substitution that included Asensio. Not to be outdone, Hurzeler made a quadruple change for Brighton. But it was Asensio who made the difference when he finished off a lightning quick break before Malan rounded off the scoring in injury-time to give Villa’s Champions League hopes a shot in the arm.
Source: theguardian.com
