Aston Villa entertained West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park earlier tonight as they looked to grab all three points at home. The Villans made a bright start to the game and took the lead in the ninth minute courtesy of Anwar El Ghazi’s penalty. However, the Baggies were awarded a penalty as well just 14 minutes later which Matheus Pereira converted to equalise for his side. Both teams went into the half-time break with nothing to split them.
Surprisingly, West Brom completed the turnaround just two minutes into the second half when Tyrone Mings scored an unfortunate own goal. But there was a twist in the latter stages of the game as Keinan Davis came off the bench to net an injury-time equaliser which salvaged a 2-2 draw for Dean Smith’s men in the West Midlands derby.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player performed during the clash against the Baggies.
GK: Emiliano Martinez – 6.5/10
The Villans keeper made two good saves but won’t be happy after conceding a couple of poor goals during the 90 minutes. However, he was tidy with his ball distribution.
RB: Ahmed Elmohamady – 7/10
He was a solid presence on the defensive end of the pitch and engineered quite a few decent chances for his teammates up top.
CB: Ezri Konsa – 6/10
He was at fault in the lead-up to Mings’ own goal just after the half-time interval. However, he deserves a pat on the back for making multiple clearances during the game.
CB: Tyrone Mings – 6/10
Mings produced a decent display in the first 45 minutes. However, he was unfortunate to score an own goal early in the second half. Smith will expect more from him in the coming weeks.
LB: Matt Targett – 7/10
The English left-back managed to create a few excellent opportunities for others around him and didn’t wrong much wrong at the back as well.
CM: Douglas Luiz – 6.5/10
He got stuck in with some crunching tackles to disrupt the opposition’s rhythm in the game.
CM: John McGinn – 7/10
The Scottish midfielder tried his best to shield his backline and even orchestrated some inviting chances in the final third.
RM: Bertrand Traore – 6.5/10
Traore caused a lot of problems for the Baggies centre-backs but didn’t do enough to get himself a goal.
CAM: Ross Barkley – 7/10
Barkley was always willing to play a decisive pass in the final third and even had a couple of attempts at goal. However, there was still no goal or assist for him tonight.
LM: Anwar El Ghazi – 7/10
He kept his calm to convert an early penalty but was also guilty of missing some good chances to double his goal-tally.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 7/10
The English striker worked hard to cause some problems for the West Brom defenders but lacked the cutting edge in front of the opponent’s goal.
Substitutes:
CM: Jacob Ramsey – 6/10
He added some energy to the Villans backline.
ST: Keinan Davis – 7.5/10
Davis came off the bench to score a late equaliser which rescued a point for his team.
ST: Wesley Moraes – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact.
