Aston Villa back in the Premier League as unheralded stars step up


After the heartache of a playoff final in which they failed to do themselves justice this time last year, Aston Villa were not in the mood to allow history to repeat itself.

That defeat to Fulham was in stark contrast to the victory over Frank Lampard’s Derby, notably because star man Jack Grealish was no longer carrying this Villa side.

In fact, the new club captain and last season’s man of the match at Wembley earned the lowest WhoScored.com rating of any starting outfielder for Dean Smith’s men. A meagre score of 6.29 was actually his lowest in claret and blue since the Villans were thrashed at Sheffield United at the start of September under then boss Steve Bruce.

The former Villa boss only lasted a month after that before Smith came in with the club that he supported as a child sat in 15th. So much was made of the Chelsea connections in the game, namely with Lampard and former Blue Terry in either dugout but it’s Smith that has turned this team back into one that has fully warranted its place back in the top-flight.

It was Grealish that had the first chance of the game but fired high and wide following a poor clearance by Derby keeper Kelle Roos, before Tammy Abraham’s effort came closer but with the same result. In truth the Rams offered very little by way of goal threat at the other end and while it was far from domination on Villa’s part, their superior play told just before the break.

Anwar El Ghazi was the man to open the scoring having looked the Villans liveliest player in the first 45 minutes. The Dutchman diverted a diving header from Ahmed El Mohamady’s cross into the bottom corner having enjoyed a decent half, completing half of the total dribbles in the match prior to the break.

At the start of the second half it was more of the same as Villa still looked marginally the better side and Derby failed to forge any real chances at goal. Then, just before the hour mark, after more decent work from El Ghazi the winger’s deflected cross looped into the air and Roos failed to deal with it.

Instead it was the diminutive John McGinn that rose to get his head onto the ball and send it home just before the Derby keeper could get ahold of the ball.

2-0 and, as much as a play-off final can, it was looking comfortable for Villa.

Lampard inevitably made attacking changes thereafter and Jack Marriott and Martin Waghorn were introduced to offer a little more urgency in attack. While Mason Mount and Harry Wilson played some nice stuff without ever really penetrating the Villa defence, Derby began to look more threatening as they went more direct and a straight ball over the opposition backline gave them hope that had looked lost.

The aforementioned Waghorn took the ball down superbly only for Tyrone Mings to make a remarkable recovery tackle. The move, however, was not lost and with Mings on the ground injured Villa failed to deal with the ball back into the box which Marriott eventually guided home. Game on, Mings off and Villa were without their most dominant defender for the final 15 minutes.

 

 

Derby huffed and puffed thereafter but Villa stood tall, with the outstanding and indefatigable McGinn leading by example. The Scot not only scored the decisive goal but completed three dribbles, three key passes and four tackles to prove why he, and not poster boy Grealish, was named Aston Villa’s player of the season.

Elsewhere it was a good time for goalscorer El Ghazi to have arguably his best game in a Villa shirt and, in the first half in particular, Conor Hourihane played a great defensive role in a midfield that otherwise pressed high up the pitch for much of the match.

That’s how this Villa side play under Dean Smith, and that’s how they will attack the Premier League. The Villans are back in the big time and ready to prove that they are far more than the Jack Grealish plus ten team they were this time last year.

Aston Villa back in the Premier League as unheralded stars step up