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2 days ago
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Tariq Lamptey spent most of his night worried about how his direct opponent Morgan Rogers was the most-likely matchwinner, but it was the right-back who settled the result with a fine equaliser as Brighton secured a draw at Aston Villa.
Rogers and Ollie Watkins had put Villa into the lead after a Simon Adingra opener and the hosts sensed victory until Lamptey scored his third goal in almost 100 Premier League games for Brighton to level with less than 10 minutes to go.
On a cold night, proceedings were stopped within a minute when Boubacar Kamara and João Pedro clashed heads, leaving the Brighton forward bleeding from a cut above his left eye. The Brazilian was lucky to be playing after throwing an elbow in the draw against Brentford last week. João Pedro required four minutes of treatment before being bandaged up and allowed to play on.
Aston Villa were the more threatening against a team that arrived without a win in six matches but Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres were feeling generous, and gifted Adingra the first goal. Lewis Dunk punted a long ball over the top that the full-back and centre-back failed to deal with under light pressure from João Pedro, before Adingra stepped in and curled his shot into the corner from inside the area, leaving Ezri Konsa bellowing at his own ineptitude.
The opener brought the fans’ frustrations to the fore as misplaced passes and lost possession were met with weighty groans inside Villa Park. There were further problems for Unai Emery to address when Pau Torres was forced off with less than a quarter of the match gone, needing to be helped down the touchline, unable to put weight on his right leg.
Rogers was causing Brighton’s defence problems with direct running but Villa were unable to produce a final pass or shot to threaten Bart Verbruggen’s goal. The Villa forwards were unable to get their pressing right, allowing Brighton to play through them. The Seagulls would have had a second when Julio Enciso took advantage of a quick break, only to see Emiliano Martínez tip his shot from distance wide.
Emery spent his programme notes bemoaning VAR and was once again irritated by the officials when they ruled that Jan Paul van Hecke had got the ball after an ill-advised lunge on Rogers in the box. The Spaniard threw out his arms when the VAR declared there was no need to overturn the original decision. He need not have worried because in the next action, João Pedro kicked Rogers when trying to clear a corner and this time Craig Pawson changed his mind after consulting the screen. Watkins, celebrating his 29th birthday, did the rest to ensure the finished level after 12 minutes of added time.
It seemed only right that Rogers’ terrorising of Brighton was rewarded when the visitors failed to clear their lines in the 47th minute. Watkins chipped a pass over the defence, that Rogers chested down and immediately fired the ball into the corner for his sixth goal of an electrifying season. The winger was the best player on the pitch by a distance, having already earned a penalty, and was causing panic to those dressed in yellow.
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Villa were in the ascendancy thanks to Rogers, leaving Brighton on the back foot, worried about when the next attack would come down the left. It’s been an incredible year for the 22-year-old, who was playing for Middlesbrough in the second tier until February. Since then he has become a Champions League player, made his England debut and scored in a win over Manchester City, the team that deemed him not good enough. Something he is proving wrong.
Fabian Hürzeler did what he could to get Brighton into the game by making a triple change before the hour. Kaoru Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh brought some much-needed verve to their output and it was the Japanese winger that helped create the equalise when he found João Pedro in the box, who laid the ball into the path of Lamptey to take a touch and fire into the corner from 18 yards. Lamptey had earned greater freedom by the fact Rogers had been moved centrally after a tactical tweak, allowing him to push further forward without fear of being exposed.
The leveller punished Villa for being wasteful in their endeavours getting four of 20 shots on target. The closest they came to a winner was Dunk heading towards his own top corner, but Verbruggen was alert and the points were shared.
