VILLA underlined their credentials as credible Champions’ League candidates as they hit Brighton for SIX thanks to a sensational Ollie Watkins hat-trick.
And they didn’t even have to worry about their infamous wet-look Castore shirts – as they barely broke sweat to get the job done!
Watkins chose the perfect time to send a come-and-pick-me message to watching England boss Gareth Southgate as he tore Brighton apart.
The 27-year-old Villa striker helped himself to a hat-trick and two assists to take his Villa goals tally to 50 and overtake Christian Benteke as Villa’s fifth top Premier League scorer of all time.
His last hat-trick came in a 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool and this goal-fest was every bit as unexpected as Villa pulverised their highly-regarded opponents.
Unai Emery’s pumped-up Villa had this match in the bag after half an hour as they blitzkrieged Brighton into submission.
They raced into a three-goal lead with just 26 minutes on the clock as Roberto De Zerbi paced around his technical area, barely able to believe what he was witnessing.
Every time he looked through the cracks of his fingers his defence was collapsing like a cheap deckchair on Brighton beach.
It might have been a different story if Pervis Estupinan had made the most of the early chance which fell his way.
Billy Gilmour played a sand-wedge pass over Villa’s defence which picked out the Ecuadorian but the left-back’s shot lacked power and Emi Martinez saved easily.
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However from that moment on it was one-way traffic as Villa ran riot.
Douglas Luiz had been booked for leaving Gilmour in a crumpled heap and Diaby had crashed a net-bound shot off Adam Webster, before Villa seized the lead after 14 minutes.
John McGinn sent Matty Cash dashing round back of Brighton’s defence and the Polish international cut the ball back to Watkins who side footed beyond Jason Steele from six yards.
It was slick, incisive and ended with a killer touch from Watkins, who has now scored in each of his last four appearances against the Seagulls.
Four minutes later he came close to adding a second when McGinn released him and his first shot was blocked by Webster, before he curled the rebound inches wide of the far post.
But there was no stopping the striker in this mood and he doubled Villa’s lead midway through the first half.
Diaby fed him the ball and Watkins took on Dunk and Veltman before drilling a low shot in at the near post beyond Steele.
Brighton had every right to feel aggrieved as Nicolo Zaniolo was standing in front of Steele inside the six yard box and the Seagulls stopper appeared to be hampered as he was sluggish to react to Watkins’ shot.
But VAR decided no infringement had taken place.
Incredibly Emery’s fired-up stars added a third before the half hour when Brighton were caught napping, claiming for a foul in midfield by Douglas Luiz on Solly March.
Villa didn’t hang around to argue and Digne charged upfield to feed Watkins who in turn found Diaby.
The little Frenchman’s first shot was blocked by Steele but his second from the rebound clipped off Pervis Estupinan and found the back of Brighton’s net.
Again, the Seagulls got no joy from VAR who decided the Luiz, March incident was a simple coming together.
De Zerbi had seen enough and made three changes at half-time as he sent on Joao Pedro, Ansu Fati and Tariq Lamptey for Welbeck, Ferguson and Estupinan.
For a moment it looked as if it might pay off as Brighton pulled one back within five minutes.
Villa were caught napping when Joao Pedro took a quick free kick and fed Kaoru Mitoma who returned the favour.
Pedro just managed to keep the ball in play, nudging it across to Ansu Fati who had a simple tap in at the far post, which was allowed to stand following a lengthy VAR check for offside.
But any hopes Brighton had of staging a comeback were torn to shreds as Watkins clocked up his first hat-trick since October 2020 in front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate.
He started the move with a pass to McGinn, who then picked out his galloping striker at the edge of Brighton’s box.
Watkins drove at Lamptey and Webster before letting fly and the ball deflected off Webster’s boot to fly high beyond Steele to restore Villa’s three-goal lead.
Substitute Jacob Ramsey then added a fifth as Watkins turned supplier, setting his teammate up for a shot which clipped Steele’s far post it’s way past the crestfallen ‘keeper.
And Ollie turned provider again seven minutes into injury time when his shot was beaten out by Steele and Douglas Luiz gleefully rammed home the rebound.
That goal meant the Brazilian equalled Dwight Yorke’s record of scoring in five successive Premier League games at Villa Park.
You can read how the action unfolded in our blog below…
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
