Villa beat Brighton in seven-goal THRILLER to go third

Ollie Watkins scored twice as Aston Villa came back from two goals down to beat Brighton and Hove Albion 4-3 in a thriller at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday.

A clash between the sides placed fourth and fifth heading into the match lived up to its billing with four goals before half-time.

Brighton were two up after 29 minutes, through Jan Paul van Hecke and a Pau Torres own goal, but that advantage was wiped out by Watkins, who scored his first Premier League goals in more than two months to drag his side level at the break.

Amadou Onana completed the turnaround on the hour mark, and Donyell Malen added a fourth that proved vital when Van Hecke pulled one back to set up a grandstand finish that Villa just about withstood.

This brilliant away win consolidated Villa’s place in the top four, opening up a five-point gap to their opponents.

Watch: All seven goals from Brighton 3-4 Villa

How the match unfolded

Brighton got off to a roaring start as Van Hecke put them ahead in the ninth minute, poking home after a goalmouth scramble when a left-wing corner somehow evaded Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot at his near post.

The Seagulls doubled their lead 20 minutes later after a swift counter-attack, Jack Hinshelwood’s low strike deflecting in off Torres’ outstretched boot.

Brighton's momentum was halted in the 37th minute, though, as Watkins halved the deficit, prodding in Evan Guessand's low cross.

And Watkins duly drew Villa level on the stroke of half-time after a flurry of missed chances, racing through to slide an emphatic low finish past Bart Verbruggen.

Onana put Villa in front 15 minutes into the second half, rising highest to nod in Matty Cash’s corner, before substitute Malen bundled in a fourth.

Van Hecke sparked hopes of a Brighton recovery with an emphatic finish, but their late pressure came to nothing as Villa held on.

Seagulls grounded at home

Fabian Hurzeler’s side would have arrived at their home stadium brimming with confidence after their clinical 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest last time out.

But they would also have known this clash would be anything but straightforward, given their poor league record against Villa. The Seagulls have now won just one of their last 10 Premier League meetings.

Still, they made a dream start as Van Hecke bundled home early on and could have doubled their lead sooner as Maxime De Cuyper had a fierce shot from range tipped narrowly over the bar by Bizot.

Hinshelwood’s deflected strike briefly had the Brighton faithful in raptures, but a defensive collapse before the break allowed Watkins to pull Villa level and shift the momentum entirely.

Brighton were soon under sustained pressure and saw the game get away from them in the second half.

Verbruggen did what he could to limit the damage at one end while Van Hecke’s late stunner offered a glimmer of hope at the other, but Brighton will now have to regroup ahead of a weekend clash with West Ham.

Watkins breaks dry spell with decisive double

Watkins lost his place in the Villa team earlier in the season due to Malen's fine form, but he was trusted by Unai Emery from the start on Wednesday and repaid that faith with an inspired two-goal display.

Watkins' first goal v Brighton

Villa had a penalty appeal waved away just minutes before Watkins’ first goal, after Ian Maatsen went down under pressure from Carlos Baleba, and that only seemed to fuel the visitors’ push for a fightback.

With the deficit halved by Watkins, Emery’s side continued to push with plenty of close chances. Watkins forced Verbruggen into a superb fingertip save, while Ezri Konsa's towering header struck the post deep into first-half stoppage time.

They eventually drew level via Watkins on the stroke of half-time and then completed the turnaround on the hour mark via Onana's powerful header.

Malen came off the bench to add a vital fourth goal, maintaining his high standards even as Watkins recovers form.

Emery will take great satisfaction in seeing his side register a sixth straight win in all competitions and will now relish returning to Villa Park for a mouth-watering clash with league leaders Arsenal on Saturday.

Club reports

Brighton report | Aston Villa report

What the managers said

Fabian Hurzeler: "There are small margins that made the difference. It's about how you react, and two set-pieces made the difference. These are the small margins. Overall, we saw a team that never gave up and had the belief to win this game.

"We defended it quite well in the season so far. It's not easy to defend set-pieces. The blocking of the goalkeeper, we still don't have a clear rule for that.

"It's not easy to concede goals and we want to react. We have to challenge the adversity we face in the game and we have to be better."

Unai Emery: "A very tough match. How we started and reacted is more like the season. The players reacted and continued with our game plan to never give up. We kept the mentality and the resilience, really fantastic.

"We reacted to scoring one goal and we started the game plan and they followed it. We are so thankful for the supporters- 4,000 of them with us here from Birmingham."

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Key facts

This was just the third time that Aston Villa came from 2-0 down away from home to win in the Premier League, after a 4-2 win v Tottenham Hotspur in April 2000 and a 3-2 win v Southampton in April 2005.

Tonight’s victory for Villa was Unai Emery’s 62nd in the Premier League with the Villans, the most of any manager across the club’s history in the competition – overtaking John Gregory and Martin O’Neill (both 61).

This was the first time that Brighton had scored three goals in a home league game but still lost since a 4-3 home defeat to Rochdale in the fourth tier in December 1999.

Van Hecke became just the fourth Dutch defender to net a Premier League brace after Virgil van Dijk, Jurrien Timber and Micky van de Ven, scoring as many goals tonight as across his prior 106 matches across all competitions for Brighton combined.