A James Milner-inspired Aston Villa followed up their weekend victory at Manchester United with a 2-0 win at Sunderland that underlined the credibility of their challenge for a top four finish.
Milner made Villa’s opener for Emile Heskey then found the net from fully 30m to enable Villa to leapfrog Arsenal into third place in the table ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Burnley yesterday.
Unsurprisingly, Villa boss Martin O’Neill kept faith with the line-up that had secured victory at Old Trafford while his opposite number Steve Bruce restored winger Kieran Richardson to the side at the expense of Fraizer Campbell.
PHOTO: AFP
Sunderland started brightly and Villa were fortunate that Andy Reid’s second-minute corner cleared the goalmouth without anyone getting a touch.
Teenage midfielder Jordan Henderson then almost opened the scoring for the home side, snapping a shot just wide from Darren Bent’s lay-off.
Sunderland were winning the early 50-50 balls, not always legally. Skipper Lorik Cana and George McCartney both picked up yellow cards, with the latter conceding a free-kick for a trip on Heskey that resulted in Stewart Downing hitting the crossbar from the resulting free-kick.
That was a sign of Villa asserting themselves and the visitors took the lead midway through the opening period. A fine ball from Milner released Heskey into the Sunderland box and the England center-forward beat Hungarian international Martin Fulop with a confident finish.
Sunderland had not generated a single clear chance by that stage and it was not until 10 minutes before the break that they did, Kenwyne Jones heading wide after being picked out by a McCartney’s fine cross.
Reid finally got an effort on target with a right-foot volley two minutes later but Brad Friedel blocked with his legs.
Sunderland should have equalized four minutes after the restart, when Bent flicked McCartney’s long ball into the path of Reid, who sliced his attempted finish wide.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure but Villa, as ever, looked dangerous on the break and only the woodwork denied Ashley Young a goal four minutes before O’Neill’s men doubled their lead.
Sunderland lost possession from a throw-in and the ball fell to the outstanding Milner 30m out. The winger, operating in central midfield, steadied himself and unleashed a shot that found the top right corner of the net to seal the points for Villa.
Any chance of a late rally by the home side was extinguished with 13 minutes left when Cana was ordered off after receiving a second yellow card for a late challenge on Milner.
Meanwhile, West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green’s extraordinary error helped Bolton Wanderers to a 3-1 victory over their relegation rivals at the Reebok Stadium.
Bolton, who climbed out of the bottom three on the back of this win, went ahead through Lee Chung-yong’s 64th minute goal before Alessandro Diamanti equalized minutes later.
But the decisive moment of the game came in the 77th minute when England international Green spilled a Gary Cahill shot in front of his face and Bolton’s Ivan Klasnic pounced to make it 2-1.
Cahill himself secured all three points for the home team with a header two minutes from time.
In Tuesday’s other Premier League match, Cameron Jerome scored twice as Birmingham City beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 as the Midlands club won five straight top-flight games for the first time since 1973 to move up into sixth place.
Jerome gave Birmingham a 12th minute lead at St Andrews from just a meter out and the striker doubled the lead three minutes after the break.
New Zealand’s Ryan Nelsen pulled a goal back for Rovers from close range in the 69th minute.
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