Aston Villa staged a dramatic comeback to defeat Brighton 4-3 in a seven-goal Premier League thriller at the Amex Stadium. Ollie Watkins scored a brace before halftime to spark the recovery after falling two goals behind. The victory extends Villa's winning streak to six matches and lifts them to third in the table.
Brighton took a commanding 2-0 lead early on, with Jan Paul van Hecke bundling in the opener from a corner after a Marco Bizot error inside 10 minutes. A pass from substitute Jack Hinshelwood then deflected off Pau Torres for the second goal. However, Aston Villa, who saw goalkeeper Emi Martinez injured in the warm-up and replaced by Bizot, fought back strongly.
Watkins halved the deficit with a poke from Ian Maatsen's low cross and then equalized in the eighth minute of stoppage time, latching onto a long ball and finishing clinically. His brace was his second and third goals of the season, having previously scored just once in the league. Amadou Onana completed the turnaround on the hour mark, heading in a Matty Cash corner at the far post.
Donyell Malen added a fourth goal with 12 minutes remaining, but van Hecke pulled one back five minutes later to set up a tense finish. Bizot atoned for his earlier mistake with an instinctive save to deny Danny Welbeck late on, securing the points for Unai Emery's side. The match marked Lewis Dunk's 500th club appearance for Brighton, who dropped to seventh.
Emery praised Watkins, saying: “He scored in different ways. In the box and as well one long ball behind the defence. It was a great finish.” He added: “With Ollie, he gives me confidence when he’s working. Not scoring, his confidence gets low, but the goals were coming.” The Villa boss also hailed his team's reaction: “The players reacted and competed fantastic. We needed some good luck at moments at 2-0 down.”
Brighton starting XI: Verbruggen, Dunk, Van Hecke, Gruda, Tzimas, Minteh, Baleba, Kadioglu, Gomez, Wieffer, Du Cuyper. Aston Villa starting XI: Martinez (Bizot), Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Guessand, Rogers, Watkins.
