Brighton 3-4 Aston Villa: Watkins breaks goal drought in thrilling comeback

Ollie Watkins scored twice as Aston Villa came 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 fourth and fifth in the Premier League heading into the match lived up to its billing with four goals before half-time.

Brighton went ahead early as Jan Paul van Hecke capitalised on an error from Marco Bizot to open the scoring, before a low Jack Hinshelwood strike deflected off Pau Torres to double their lead.

But their advantage was swiftly wiped out by Watkins, who scored his first Premier League goals in more than two months to drag his side level on the stroke of half-time.

Amadou Onana finally completed Villa’s turnaround on the hour mark, rising highest to meet Matty Cash’s corner, before Donyell Malen added a fourth that proved vital.

With seven minutes remaining, Van Hecke pulled one back with a fine strike from the edge of the area to set up a grandstand finish that Villa only just survived, climbing to third in the table, five points ahead of their opponents.

Data Debrief: Watkins’ dry spell comes to an end

Watkins was restored to the Villa XI and repaid Unai Emery for his faith with an inspired two-goal display.

He scored twice from four shots, outperforming his individual expected goals total of 1.05.

Watkins contributed to Villa dominating in that regard, with five big chances helping them tally 2.76 xG to Brighton’s 1.70.

That threat in the final third allowed Villa to come from 2-0 down to win away from home in the Premier League for only the third time, following a 4-2 victory over Tottenham in April 2000 and a 3-2 comeback against Southampton in April 2005.