Ollie Watkins: ““It’s a massive win,” says Villa’s striker. “Obviously the scoreline is great but it’s also a great performance from the boys. It’s massive for us to bounce back after the defeat midweek against Newcastle. Our away form hasn’t been up to scratch so it was a big performance for us today and a great win.”
Unai Emery: “I’m happy because before the match we were very focused to react,” says the Villa boss, in an interview with the BBC. “We scored goals, created chances and stopped them. Winning away is difficult. It was better than we were thinking at the beginning. We were clinical. We conceded two good chances at the end of the match.”
Match report: Sheffield United 0-5 Aston Villa
Premier League: “Those who doubted Villa’s durability may want to pause for thought,” writes Sam Dalling from Bramall Lane. “This was a separation in class, an exercise in Villa incision and in shadow chasing for their hapless hosts.”
Villa put five past Sheffield United. And what’s more, they had five different scorers. John McGinn got the show on the road, rifling into an empty net after Anel Ahmedhodzic had hooked an Ollie Watkins dink off the line.
Mr Watkins got Villa’s second, finishing with aplomb after running on to an exquisite Douglas Luiz pass from deep. Leon Bailey scored their third, cutting inside his man before curling a purler into the top corner, while Youri Tielemans’s was the next cab off the rank to make it 4-0 after 30 minutes.
Less than two minutes after the break, Alex Moreno spanked home Villa’s fifth and that’s how the score stayed despite a spirited but utterly futile effort from United towards the end of the game. Emi Martinez was forced to make a double-save, while Vniicius Souza had what he thought was a late consolation chalked off for offside.
A quick recap: Aston Villa turned up, Sheffield United didn’t.
Full time: Sheffield United 0-5 Aston Villa
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeeep! Referee Paul Tierney puts Sheffield United, their manager and their fans out of their miserty on a night where the home side have been humbled from Villa. It was a tremendous performance from Aston Villa, who have put their January wobble firmly behind them.
90+5 min: Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder looks stoney-faced on the touchline, standing with his arms folded wondering if any of the match officials will be impertinent enough to eat a snack if he decides to go into their dressing-room to complain about that decision. But for the narrow offside, it was a well-worked training ground free-kick that Sheffield United probably shouldn’t have showcased in public during added time of a game in which they were 5-0 down. Now everyone will know about it.
VAR: Sheffield United's goal is disallowed ...
That. Is. Brutal. After an age, the curtain-twitchers in Stockley Park finally rule out Sheffield United’s goal for offside. It’s as you were and Aston Villa lead 5-0 at Bramall Lane.
90+3 min: Hmmm, I think this is going to be ruled out for offside by VAR.
GOAL! Sheffield United 1-5 Aston Villa (Souza 90+2)
90 min: Sheffield United win a free-kick for a Kamara foul on Ahmedhodzic. It’s directly in front of goal, about 28 yards out. Gustavo Hamer stands over it and … instead of shooting, curls the ball to the left. It’s headed across the face of goal by Jack Robinson and Vinicius Souza stretches to hook home from close range.
87 min: This win will send Villa fourth in the table, two points clear of Tottenham Hotspur. Sheffield United will remain anchored to the bottom, ten points from safety with a diabolical goal difference that is conspicuously worse than anyone else at the foot of the table.
85 min: Matty Cash advances upfield unopposed before sliding a pass in behind for Diaby. His cross drops kindly for Rogers in the Sheffield United box but the debutant sends his effort high over the bar.
83 min: Ben Osborn curls a cross into the centre and out of play when the shot was on. It doesn’t make much, or indeed any difference at this stage but he should have had a pop.
80 min: Aston Villa substitution: Morgan Rogers comes on to make his Villa and Premier League debut, having signed from Middlesbrough on deadline day. He’s a local lad, who began his footballing journey in the West Brom academy.
78 min: Sheffield United somehow fail to score from the corner, with Emi Martinez pulling off a terrific double-save from Anel Ahmedhozic and then Jack Robinson, after Ollie Watkins had cleared a header from the latter off the line.
77 min: Sheffield United break upfield after Villa had squandered a two-man overlap at the other end. Cameron Archer jinks this way and that, trying to make room to get a cross in. His delivery is blocked and the ball goes out for a corner.
73 min: Tom Davies, formerly of Everton, is on for Sheffield United for his first appearance since being injured in September. His long blond locks have been shorn and he’s sporting a buzz-cut with a flat go-faster stripe mohawk down the middle. James McAtee makes way. Aston Villa substitution: Tim Iroegbunam comes on for John McGinn.
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72 min: Moussa Diaby brings a smart save out of Wes Foderingham after cutting inside the Sheffield United penalty area and getting the ball on to his left foot.
69 min: With Villa five goals up and apparently happy not to pile even more humiliation upon their hosts, the final 20 minutes of this game look set to become something of an exercise in almost total futility. One suspects that both sides would be delighted if Paul Tierney blew up early.
66 min: Graham Potter is in the stands, watching with interest. He’s definitely not being lined up to replace Unai Emery, who is going nowhere. One suspects that in the extremely unlikely event that Sheffield United are already thinking of handing Chris Wilder his P45 after just six weeks in the job, Potter wouldn’t touch the Blades job with a barge-pole.
62 min: With more and more unoccupied red seats visible in the Bramall Lane stands, Aston Villa continue to toy with Sheffield United. The ball goes out for a throw-in and Chris Wilder uses the pause in play to send Cameron Archer on in place of Ben Brereton-Diaz. No pressure, Cameron. Just the five goals required.
59 min: Aston Villa double substitution: Matty Cash and Moussa on for Ezri Konsa and Leon Bailey.
57 min: Villa free-kick, wide on the left. Ezri Konsa stoops to try to convert a header at the far post and needs treatment. During the break in play, there’s a VAR check to see if Auston Trusty had caught him in the face with a wayward boot, but the Sheffield United defender’s intervention was not illegal as he put the ball out for a corner.
53 min: Sheffield United have now conceded 59 goals in the Premier League this season, the second most of any team in Uefa’s top flight leagues. Only Newry City (65) in Northern Ireland have shipped more, although their record could go this evening. (Spotter’s badge: Match of the Day)
Ouch.#BBCFootball #SHUAVL pic.twitter.com/OuqRI5jGeP
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 3, 2024
49 min: Having seen his side concede another goal within 90 seconds of the restart, Chris Wilder makes two more changes. Andre Brooks and Rhys Norrington-Davies are replaced by Ben Osborn and Jack Robinson.
GOAL! Sheffield United 0-5 Aston Villa (Moreno 47)
Villa make it five! Auston Trusty makes a dog’s breakfast of a clearance, Ollie Watkins stands the ball up for Alex Moreno at the far post and the Villa left-back waits for it to drop before spanking home a volley.
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Second half: Sheffield United 0-4 Aston Villa
46 min: Play resumes, with one change of personnel on each side. Gustavo Hamer has been tasked with recuing Sheffield United, with William Osula making way. Jacob Ramsey is on for Villa, all the better to allow Douglas Luiz to compulsively obsess about his sock turn-ups in the dugout.
Half-time: Sheffield United 0-4 Aston Villa
Peep! Sheffield United’s half-hearted performance is greeted by a similarly half-hearted chorus of boos from those fans who haven’t yet left the ground or adjourned to the concourse bars for a much-needed pint. Their thoroughly dispirited players troop off, four goals down against an Aston Villa side that have barely tried a leg since scoring their most recent goal on the 30 minute mark.
45+3 min: Youri Tielemans tries to thread the ball between defenders for Watkins to chase but puts too much weight on his pass, allowing Fodderingham to collect. It’s half-time.
45+1 min: With half-time approaching, you’d genuinely have to worry for the welfare of any Sheffield United players brave enough to refuel with sandwiches while their boss – a Premier League manager, no less – is addressing them. I wonder is his stance on energy gels and protein bars is identical?
This is a spectacular thing for Chris Wilder to have been annoyed by pic.twitter.com/LPhJ9uEigZ
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) February 1, 2024
45 min: Jayden Bogle is booked for a needlessly crude challenge on Alex Moreno that looks borne out of frustration and embarrassment.
42 min: Leon Bailey performs a soft-shoe shuffle to get in behind Norrington-Davies and advance up the byline. Hedrills the ball towards the near post, where Anel Ahmedhodzic blocks his cross.
41 min: Norrington-Davies cuts out an attempted through ball from Babacar Kamara to Leon Bailey, who had timed his run in behind to perfection. Kamara apologises to his teammate.
38 min: Perhaps out of professional courtesy and an unwillingness to humiliate their hosts, Villa’s players already seem to have taken their foot off the gas and are just passing the ball around in the space between the halfway line and the edge of the final third.
Their Sheffield United counterparts seem happy enough with this arrangement but Unai Emery isn’t having it. The Villa manager is urging his players on from the touchline, demanding that they up the tempo.
36 min: Ezri Konsa plays an inviting ball up the inside right channel for Leon Bailey to chase. Rhys Norrington-Davies beats the Villa winger to it and averts the danger.
34 min: Having embarked on spurious, questionable rants about the poor quality of refereeing in each of Sheffield United’s past two games, it will be intriguing to see if Chris Wilder lays the blame for this embarrassment at the door of the match official, Paul Tierney, or looks closer to home.
32 min: In the Sheffield United goal, Wes Foderingham looks genuinely shell-shocked, even though there wasn’t a great deal he could do about any of the Villa goals. The Sheffield United fans are leaving in their droves and there are no end of unoccupied red seats visible in the stands.
GOAL! Sheffield United 0-4 Aston Villa (Tielemans 30)
It’s a rout: Moments after going close from a corner straight from the training ground, Youri Tielemans makes up for his scuffed effort by rifling one in off the cross-bar from the edge of the penalty area after the ball had been cleared his way from a corner.
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27 min: A tip of the hat to Leon Bailey for his finish, by the way. Having cut inside Norrington-Davies in the build-up to Villa’s third goal, he curled a splendid left-footed shot into the top corner.
26 min: Ezri Konsa combines with Bailey down the right, picks up the return pass back inside and tries to squeeze the ball through the legs of Foderingham at the near post. The goalkeeper foils him.
24 min: Sheffield United win a free-kick wide on the right. James McAtee curls the ball towards the far post, where Mason Holgate is unable to keep his header down.
23 min: The exodus from the Bramall Lane stands has already begun, with what looks like hundreds of fans already making their way towards the stairwells. Maybe they all have ablutions to attend to.
GOAL! Sheffield United 0-3 Aston VIlla (Bailey 19)
Villa score again! The ball is played out to Leon Bailey on the inside right. Rhys Norrington-Davies allows him to cut inside and get the ball on to his left foot and the man with the meticulously turned down socks makes no mistake. It’s a great finish.
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19 min: That pass from Douglas Luiz was sensational, the Brazilain picking out Watkins with an insoucient swish with the outside of his right boot and the resulting pass completely bamboozling Ahmedhodzic.
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GOAL! Sheffield United 0-2 Aston Villa (Watkins 16)
Villa double their lead! Watkins latches on to a wonderful Douglas Luiz pass threaded through the centre, advances towards the edge of the Sheffield United penalty area and rolls the ball into the far corner. It looked too easy for him, as if Wes Foderingham hadn’t narrowed the angle as much as he should have.
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15 min: Moments before that opener, Leon Bailey had gone close for Villa, picking up the ball on the inside left, cutting inside and curling a shot narrowly wide of the far post.
GOAL! Sheffield United 0-1 Aston Villa (McGinn 12)
Villa lead! Anel Ahmedhozic performs heroics to get back and hook the ball off the line after Ollie Watkins had been played in behind and clipped it goalwards over the onrushing Wes Foderingham. Sadly, the Blades captain can only send it trundling towards the edge of his own six-yard box. John McGinn is quickest to react, smashing the ball home into an empty net.
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10 min: Ben Brereton-Diaz goes on an arcing run in behind the VIlla defence to collect a ball from deep, drifts in from the left and then shoots straight at Emi Martinez. The Villa goalkeeper is less than convincing and almost lets the ball squirm under his body at the near post.
8 min: Wes Foderingham, who asked for a loan move away from Sheffield United towards the end of the January window but remains at the club and is back in the team, wellies the ball upfield. He hasn’t been terrible this season, in the face of an almost permanent onslaught, but has dropped quite a few clangers.
7 min: Norrington-Davies sends a cross into the Villa penalty area from the left but it’s cleared.
6 min: Douglas Luiz tries a shot from even further out but his effort is wild. He smiles and waves a hand by way of apology to his teammates.
5 min: Aston Villa win a free-kick about 30 yards from the Sheffield United goal, a little right of centre. Douglas Luiz rolls the ball a couple of feet to the left, creating a slightly better angle for John McGinn to strike. His effort fizzes high and wide.
3 min: Ben Brereton-Diaz and Rhys Norrington-Davies combine down the left and the full-back tries to send a cross towards Osula, whose surname is mercifully single-barrelled. It’s intercepted.
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2 min: Emi Martinez is forced off his line to gather a backpass under pressure from William Osula, who was threatening to pounce.
Sheffield United v Aston Villa is go ...
1 min: Aston Villa kick off, their players wearing lighht blue shirts, shorts and socks. Ahead of kick-off, Douglas Luiz appeared to spent an inordinate amount of time getting the turn-downs of his socks just so.
Not long now: The teams march out on to the Bramall Lane sward with Anel Ahmedhodzic and John McGinn wearing the captains’ armbands. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.
Oli McBurnie: The Sheffield United striker is not involved tonight because he has a tight calf, the result of his exertions during his side’s game against Crystal Palace.
The Premier League table: Luton Town’s bonkers 4-4 draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park means that Sheffield United are now 10 points from safety at the foot of the table with a goal difference so bad that the gap is ostenisbly 11 points. Aston Villa are in fifth place but can leapfrog Tottenham into fourth with a win this evening.
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Those teams: Chris Wilder makes five changes to the side that got beaten by Crystal Palace, with goalkeeper Wes Foderingham coming in for Ivo Grbic, who is sauffering from a concussion. Deadline day signing Mason Holgate starts in the heart of the Blades defence, with Jack Robinson making way.
William Osula, Rhys Norrington-Davies and Andre Brooks also start, with Oli McBurnie, Gustavo Hamer and Anis Ben Slimane dropping out.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery makes two changes, with Leon Bailey and Diego Carlos coming in for Matty Cash and Moussa Diaby.
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Today’s match officials
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Ian Hussin and Scott Ledger
Fourth official: Sam Barrott
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick
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Sheffield United v Aston Villa line-ups
Sheffield United: Foderingham, Bogle, Holgate, Ahmedhodzic, Trusty, Norrington-Davies, McAtee, Vinicius Souza, Brooks, Brereton-Diaz, Osula.
Subs: Hamer, Archer, Norwood, Robinson, Tom Davies, Osborn, One, Larouci, Amissah.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Diego Carlos, Lenglet, Alex Moreno, Douglas Luiz, Kamara, Bailey, McGinn, Tielemans, Watkins.
Subs: Cash, Chambers, Diaby, Olsen, Rogers, Kesler-Hayden, Ramsey, Iroegbunam, Wright.
Early team news
Concussion rules mean that Sheffield United’s new goalkeeper, Ivo Grbic, has been stood down for the next week or so after shipping a bang to the head that forced him off during his side’s defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace on Tuesday night. The Croatian will almost certainly be replaced by Wes Foderingham.
John Egan, Chris Basham, George Baldock, Dan Jebbison, Max Lowe and Topm Davies all remain sidelined, while Rhian Brewster sits out the final game of a three-match spell on the Naughty Step.
Signed on loan from Everton for the rest of the season, Mason Holgate is available for selection today, having spent the first half of the season at Southampton before being recalled. Ben Brereton-Diaz is also fit to start, despite being withdrawn at half-time during the Palace game with a tight hamstring.
Aston Villa continue to go about their business without long-term absentees Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings, while Jhon Duran is also out until April at the earliest. Bertrand Traore is at Afcon representing Burkinho Faso, while Nicolo Zaniolo has been ruled out with injury. Lucas Digne and Pau Torres are also unavailable.
Following a concerted pursuit, Villa secured the signature of Middlesbrough forward Morgan Rogers in a deal worth up to £16m on deadline day. Australian goalkeeper Joe Gauci has also signed for the club and will get to meet his new teammates soon, following his country’s elimination from the Asian Cup at the hands of South Korea yesterday.
Premier League: Sheffield United v Aston Villa
Bottom of the table and nine points from safety, Sheffield United are in dire need of points as they welcome Aston Villa to Bramall Lane. Both teams lost last time out, United coming a cropper at Crystal Palace, prompting their manager Chris Wilder to go on an extraordinarilyy pompous post-match rant about the poor standard of refereeing, not to mention the audacity of one unnamed linesman who had the audacity to eat a sandwich (a sandwich!) as he vented his spleen.
Villa suffered a rare home defeat at the hands of Newcastle on Tuesday and will be expecting to get back to winning ways ahead of what, on paper at least should be more testing assignments against Chelsea and Manchester United at Villa Park. Kick-off in Yorkshire is at 5.30pm but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
