3 hours ago
7
On a night when James Milner made history, equalling his former teammate Gareth Barry’s Premier League appearance record, his former club, Aston Villa, created more unwanted headlines for Fabian Hürzeler. A Tyrone Mings header, deflected in by Jack Hinshelwood with four minutes of normal time to play, on the defender’s 200th Villa appearance, was sufficient to down Brighton and extend their miserable run.
It said everything about a poor Villa display that Unai Emery was unmoved by the goal. Brighton had looked most likely to score, Ferdi Kadioglu cracking an effort against the crossbar and Milner going close late on. For Hürzeler, the 32-year-old German feeling the heat, it is now one win in their past 13 league matches.
Both teams came into this game in need of a lift, though Brighton’s need was perhaps more pressing. Defeat at home to rivals Crystal Palace last time out only augmented the argument against Hürzeler, with some Brighton supporters singing against their head coach. Thomas Frank’s departure from Tottenham further served to remind the fragility of the modern-day manager. For so long Brighton have appeared almost foolproof but are the German’s days numbered?
Hürzeler seemed happy to make big decisions. Carlos Baleba, booked within a couple of minutes for a lazy challenge on Morgan Rogers, was hooked after 22 minutes, Milner entering in his place to warm applause from all sides of the stadium. This was Milner’s 653rd top-flight appearance, matching the record held by Barry. Presumably, Hürzeler felt keeping Baleba on was not a gamble worth taking, at least not in the current predicament. The midfielder trudged into the away dugout, dragging his blue-and-white striped shirt over his face as he took his seat.
Some of the crowd may have wished they followed suit. Hürzeler did cover his eyes when Joel Veltman registered an early foul throw. Brighton mustered just four forgettable touches inside Villa’s 18-yard box in an underwhelming first half. For Villa, Jadon Sancho was a bright spark and made a couple of promising in-roads but saw his shots blocked before Ollie Watkins sent a header wide from an Ian Maatsen cross. Danny Welbeck shut down an Emi Martínez kick downfield. The first real effort on goal came on the verge of first-half stoppage time, Emi Buendía’s shot deflecting off Veltman and narrowly wide. Half of the Holte End thought the ball rippled Bart Verbruggen’s net but it had, in fact, cannoned against the hoardings.
It was that kind of game. Kaoru Mitoma curled an effort wide and Emery was left wincing on the sidelines as Amadou Onana blasted a shot harmlessly over. Kadioglu produced a rare moment of quality when striking the woodwork, though Martínez played his part. Welbeck laid the ball off to Kadioglu on the edge of the box and the versatile Turkey full-back sent a blistering, swerving strike at goal. Martínez got his left glove to it and pushed it on to the bar.
A few minutes before scoring, Mings headed away an awkward cross by the Brighton substitute Harry Howell out for a corner and then Tammy Abraham went over softly in the box. Just when it seemed the game would peter into the drab draw it probably deserved, Mings arrived at the front post to find a winner courtesy of a Hinshelwood ricochet.
