AliousAston Villa stretched their winning streak to six consecutive games across all competitions with a commanding 3-0 victory over Brighton on Wednesday night.
Fresh off a brace in the FA Cup quarter-finals against Preston, Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford continued his fine form, netting his first Premier League goal for Villa to open the scoring.
Second-half strikes from Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen sealed an emphatic win for Unai Emery’s side.
VAR Takes Center Stage in Controversial Clash
Despite Villa’s dominant display, the game was overshadowed by a series of contentious refereeing decisions, prompting the Premier League to issue three separate statements during the match regarding four different VAR reviews.
The first incident occurred in the opening half when Villa appealed for a penalty after Jacob Ramsey was challenged by Jack Hinshelwood in the box.
The referee dismissed the claims, and following a VAR review, the decision was upheld. The Premier League later clarified on their official X (formerly Twitter) account:
“The referee’s call of no penalty to Aston Villa, following a challenge by Hinshelwood on Ramsey, was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed not to reach the threshold for a foul.”
Shortly after Rashford’s goal, Brighton believed they had found an immediate equalizer through Simon Adingra.
However, after an extended VAR check, the goal was disallowed due to a handball in the build-up by Kaoru Mitoma. A second Premier League statement explained:
“VAR checked the referee’s call of goal for Brighton and established Mitoma handled the ball deliberately in the build-up, and recommended an on-field review. The goal was then disallowed.”
VAR was called into action once more for Villa’s second goal, with Brighton arguing that Ollie Watkins had fouled Mats Wieffer before Asensio found the net. This time, the on-field decision stood, with the Premier League confirming: *“The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact between Watkins and Wieffer in the build-up deemed to be mutual – with no foul committed.”*
Villa Close in on the Top Four Race
With this victory, Aston Villa now sit in seventh place, just two points behind Newcastle in fifth and three behind fourth-placed Manchester City. However, Newcastle hold a game in hand.
Emery’s side will look to continue their strong run when they face an in-form Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on Saturday evening (5:30 pm).
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