Aston Villa snatched a dramatic late victory against Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park, with Tyrone Mings' deflected header securing a 1-0 win. The goal came in the 86th minute when Mings met a corner from Leon Bailey, with the ball glancing off Brighton's Jack Hinshelwood and into the net.
The result extended Brighton's miserable run to one win in 13 Premier League matches, leaving head coach Fabian Hürzeler under increasing pressure. Villa moved five points clear of fourth-placed Manchester United, reaching the 50-point mark with 12 games remaining.
James Milner made history by equalling Gareth Barry's record of 653 Premier League appearances when he came on as an early substitute for Carlos Baleba, who was substituted after just 22 minutes to avoid a potential red card. Hürzeler defended the decision, saying the yellow card was harsh.
Brighton had chances, with Ferdi Kadioglu hitting the crossbar and Milner testing Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. However, Villa boss Unai Emery admitted his side needed the result to restore confidence. “We needed to win. How? We just needed to recover confidence through the result,” he said.
Mings acknowledged the performance was not vintage, but was delighted with the three points. “Games are so tight, if it was 1-0 to them, everyone would say we were rubbish. But fortunately we got the right result,” he said.
