Aston Villa secured a dramatic 4-3 victory over Sunderland at Villa Park, with Tammy Abraham touching in the winner three minutes into injury time. The goal sparked wild celebrations, with Unai Emery running onto the pitch, but only after Emiliano Martínez had made a crucial save from Habib Diarra moments earlier.
“We need strikers and goalkeepers,” said Emery. “It was the match – three points for them and no three points for us.” The win extends Villa’s lead over Chelsea in sixth place to ten points with five games remaining, strengthening their bid for Champions League qualification.
Ollie Watkins, who scored his 100th goal for the club against Bologna on Thursday, added his 101st and 102nd before half-time, both headers from crosses. Sunderland had equalised through 18-year-old Chris Rigg, who curled in his first Premier League goal after nine minutes, but Morgan Rogers restored Villa’s lead early in the second half.
Sunderland fought back with goals from Trai Hume and Wilson Isidor to make it 3-3, but Abraham’s deft flick from Lucas Digne’s cross sealed the win. “I am so, so happy,” Emery said. “We played a fantastic match and maybe the two goals we conceded in one minute, we lost our mind a little bit. But how we reacted at 3-3 to score the fourth goal was fantastic.”
Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris said: “I’m disappointed because we had the opportunity to win the game, just with this one-v-one with Habib. But the opposite way we conceded the late goal. We showed good character and resilience.” Sunderland still need a point to be sure of staying up, but are four points above Newcastle.
