Aston Villa 2-3 WatfordHome team scorers
Micah Richards 41
Jordan Ayew 89
Away team scorers
Odion Jude Ighalo 17
Alan Hutton 69 o.g.
Troy Deeney 85
As if they have not had enough salt in recent wounds, Aston Villa had their latest disappointment rubbed in by a Birmingham fan fulfilling his wish of scoring in front of the Holte End. Troy Deeney, having equalised against Manchester United last week only to score a late own goal, experienced only unmitigated joy as he headed home the clinching goal against his old enemy.
The Watford captain scored five minutes from the end of regulation time on a day when his team survived the loss of Heurelho Gomes to a worrying head injury that forced the addition of 10 minutes’ stoppage time.
Villa remain rooted to the foot of the Premier League as they equalled the club record of 13 consecutive league games without a win. They have not won at home in the league since May. They have also equalled the divisional record of the lowest number of points from the first 14 games, and no team have avoided relegation with five points at this stage of the campaign.
Rémi Garde now realises the full extent of the job he has taken on. Three games in, and Villa are looking relegation certainties. At least the new manager could not be accused of playing too cautiously. He had a plan. Trouble was, it involved Carlos Sánchez as a defensive pivot, and the Colombian’s touch and passing does not encourage slick accurate build-up play.
Villa played with both full-backs very high, attacking at the same time, with Sánchez invited to offer protection in front of Micah Richards and Ciaran Clark, the two centre-backs. Offensively, this gave Villa a great shape, with Alan Hutton and Kieran Richardson getting wider and even beyond Carles Gil and Scott Sinclair, their wide men. But defensively, especially given Brad Guzan’s distribution, again disconcertingly erratic, the home side were vulnerable in the extreme.
Still, five points adrift of 17th place, and with such a terrible home record over the past four years – 72 points gained from the previous 76 games – the new manager had to go for victory. Watford, with a creditable 16 points from the opening 13 games of their return to the Premier League, had lost their past two games and this would have gone down as the kind of game Villa had to win if they were to stand a chance of survival.
Jordan Ayew, playing as the central attacker, forced Gomes into an early save following a finely timed run on to Richards’ astute through pass into the channel but it was Watford who profited first from Villa’s high-risk approach.
In some ways, the goal was a fluke. On the other hand, Odion Ighalo was involved. The Nigerian has been involved in 75% of Watford’s first 12 goals this season, scoring seven and making two more, and after his initial shot was saved superbly by Guzan, the ball came back to him when Ben Watson’s shot deflected off Clark, and Ighalo made the most of being played onside by Richardson to steer his effort into the corner.
Étienne Capoue should have done better when played straight in through the middle after Sánchez was dispossessed but Guzan saved and, to Villa’s credit, they played their way back into the ascendancy.
Ayew had two decent efforts, one sent wide, the other saved, Idrissa Gana hit another just past the post before Sinclair came inside and dispatched a dipping right-footed shot that Gomes tipped over in spectacular fashion.
So it was no great surprise when Villa equalised, four minutes before the interval. Hutton drove inside from wide on the right and, when he was tripped, most thought Gil would attempt to curl the free-kick left-footed towards the top corner. Instead Jordan Veretout chipped in right-footed and Richards powered in a header for his first goal for Villa.
He celebrated wildly, and probably not because he should have been given offside. The former England defender had accused his team-mates on the eve of the game of being too “nice” and eyeing their exit route should Villa be relegated. He couldn’t afford not to contribute in the most positive fashion.
Unfortunately for Villa, despite dominating possession in the second half, they failed to continue creating such a sequence of clear chances after the interval. Watford defended deep and compact and, even when they lost Gomes to a head injury that forced a seven-minute delay, Villa could not unduly trouble Giedrius Arlauskis, the Lithuanian goalkeeper making his Premier League debut.
Gomes required oxygen and a stretcher after he collided with Craig Cathcart when the team-mates combined to keep out Hutton’s cross. But Arlauskis – who recently conceded three goals to England in the Euro 2016 qualifier – barely had a save of note to make.
Indeed Watford, with their powerful front pairing, looked the likelier to score again. When Deeney attempted to play Ighalo in, Hutton inadvertently guided the ball past his own goalkeeper. Then after 85 minutes Deeney got his wish, heading home in front of the Holte End as Clark dawdled awaiting Ighalo’s deflected shot to come down. Deeney took his yellow card for teasing the Villa fans.
Ayew blasted home to add tension to the 10 minutes of added time but Villa’s unwanted succession of records is extended, and there is little sense of them ending any time soon.
Guardian
