A NIGHT of defensive cock-ups saw West Brom’s survival hopes take a huge blow.
Semi Ajayi gave away an early penalty to give Aston Villa the lead through Anwar El Ghazi before Ezri Konsa did the same soon after as Matheus Pereira levelled.
Konsa’s night got worse as his slip just after the break allowed Mbaye Diagne’s effort to be deflected into his own net by Tyrone Mings.
But injury-time saw the worst of the lot as Kyle Bartley – on his 100th appearance for the Baggies – dithered in his own box to let Keinan Davies sneak home a leveller.
West Brom could have gone seven points off safety with five games remaining with a run-in that Sam Allardyce would have been licking his lips over.
Yet now, Big Sam’s ballsy, battling Baggies – who outplayed Villa for most of the night – have made their survival fight that much tougher.
Those dreams of eclipsing the miracle boys of 2005 under Bryan Robson just took A step further into the distance.
Brighton – without a win in four themselves – will have had a collective huge sigh relief.
West Brom’s next in the Black Country derby against Wolves is now, once again, a must win or bust.
As for Dean Smith’s Villa, their feint hopes of nicking a European spot are surely over now after three successive games without a win.
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It was their tenth game in a row without talisman Jack Grealish, and his absence has been felt hard. 10 matches. five defeats. Just two wins.
Big Sam made two changes from the mid-week defeat to Leicester, while Smith made three after narrowly losing out to Manchester City at Villa Park.
And it was two of those switches – West Brom’s Semi Ajayi and Villa’s El Ghazi – who were involved to see the hosts take an early lead.
Not as early as John McGinn’s opener against City after 20 seconds, but eight minutes gone and Villa were awarded a penalty for Ajayi’s clumsy trip on Ross Barkley.
El Ghazi stepped up and sent Sam Johnstone the wrong way. The Dutchman’s fifth career goal against the Baggies – the most he has against any side since arriving in England in 2018.
West Brom responded well. Pereria sent a free-kick just over the bar soon after before a contentious penalty decision in the 22nd minute handed them the leveller.
Some neat footwork saw Ainsley Maitland-Niles glide into the box before going down theatrically after having the back of his foot clipped by Ezri Konsa.
It looked soft, and had Smith livid on the touchline, but VAR decided against intervening, and Pereira beat Emiliano Martinez from 12-yards.
The Brazilian now has six away league goals in 2021 – level with Harry Kane.
West Brom continued to create chance after chance. Okay Yokuslu’s header across goal narrowly went wide on 27 minutes. Then as the confidence grew, the box of tricks opened.
Pereira produced some Dimitar Berbatov-esque magic on the byline as Maitland-Niles was denied by his old Arsenal teammate Martinez.
Another slice of Pereira magic then almost brought the lead as his swerving free-kick beat Martinez but smacked off the bar before the break.
But not to worry, as Konsa’s night of cock-ups continued into the second half after failing to control a high ball and falling to the floor.
Diagne intercepted and ran into space down the left before curling into the far corner with the help of a slight touch from Mings’ outstretched boot.
Villa’s first own goal of the season – and West Brom could not have been happier as they reacted by dropping deep.
The inviting of pressure woke Villa’s creative talent up, but Ollie Watkins missed the best of those chances after fluffing a one-on-one with Johnstone before Keinan Davis smacked the post from close-range.
West Brom looked to have held on before Watkins’ header in the six yard box was not dealt with by Bartley as sub Davis snuck in with a toe to break Baggies hearts.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
