Latest Aston Villa news from BirminghamLive after the Villans’ thrash Sheffield United 5-0 at Bramall Lane
Aston Villa defeated Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday, climbing to fourth place in the Premier League standings.
John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey, and Youri Tielemans gave the Villans an insurmountable advantage in the first half in South Yorkshire. The host’s misery was further compounded when Alex Moreno made it five, adding insult to injury for Chris Wilder’s team.
Villa will now look towards Wednesday’s FA Cup fourth round replay against Chelsea as they chase a first piece of silverware under Unai Emery. Below is what some of the national media thought about Saturday’s game at Bramall Lane
As the fourth Aston Villa goal crashed in off the underside of the crossbar, hurrying even more home supporters towards the exits, it was tempting to wonder whether a Premier League record was about to be broken.
Sheffield United were ridiculously poor, Villa had been unstoppable—they were the only away team to score four goals in the first half of a league game at this level in more than 12 years. The disparity in skill between Manchester United and Liverpool and Leicester made their combined 9-0 record seem momentarily vulnerable.
However, Villa would only score one more goal in the second half, and Chris Wilder and Sheffield United ended up breaking the record. With 23 games played, United has now given up the most goals by any side in Premier League history—59—and there doesn’t appear to be much chance that Wilder’s comeback will result in a “Great Escape.”
It was when Aston Villa’s fourth goal went in with only half an hour played that record Premier League scores started to creep to mind, and the only disappointment for Unai Emery on a dominant night in South Yorkshire was that his Villa side did not win by more.
Following Youri Tielemans’ spectacular goal that struck the crossbar, a large crowd of Sheffield United supporters began to leave the stadium. Even though Villa ended up with just five goals, far from the 9-0 record and far short of the 14 goals required to finish second, the difference in skill at Bramall Lane was immense.
John McGinn was the first to react when Ollie Watkins’ attempt went off the post. The ball crashed off the woodwork when he was behind five Sheffield United defenders, but the Scotland international still managed to pick it up and put Villa up after just 12 minutes. The exceptional calibre of athletes such as Douglas Luiz, who put forth an amazing assist with the outside of his boot for Watkins to finish for Villa’s second, but what they do have within their control is their fight and desire.
The time to play Aston Villa was reasonable. Or so the theory went, anyway. Unai Emery’s team has faltered a little bit since Sheffield United, of all clubs, stopped them from winning the division late last year.
For the first time since Emery’s hiring, a run of one win in five league games had raised more questions than it had answered. That, then, was a clear declaration, though one that came with the caveat that the Blades’ defensive generosity seemed unbounded.
It was a class division, a practice of Villa incision and shadow chasing for their unfortunate hosts. If sandwiches were what these two clubs offered, for example, customers’ tastebuds would encounter distinctly different flavours.
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