Aston Villa’s first clean sheet in 27 Premier League outings saw Villans’ worst fear realized as Christian Benteke went down with what appears a hip flexor injury, only to have new boy Libor Kozak step into the breach and slot home the winner.
It was a ragged game. Villa could have been up early when Weimann was through twice, contriving to hit the post on a shot curled nicely around Ruddy.
But as well as they started, Villa faced yet another early deficit when Ciaran Clark was penalized for handball. Robert Snodgrass stepped to the spot, hit a less-than-perfect shot, and Guzan was out smartly to turn it away.
Benteke’s slip-and-fall saw him exit the game on 25 minutes, and a minute later it was Kozak notching the game’s decisive and only goal after Gabriel Agbonlahor collected the knockdown from Kozak’s first effort on goal, got to the line and cut it back. Kozak’s side-footed finish was a clean, composed effort to the far side.
Guzan again played the hero late, reacting magnificently to a ball Hooper had directed onto goal and would’ve gone in had not the keeper somehow tipped it over.
Perhaps as interesting as anything that happened in the game were Lowton and Westwood being sat, replaced by Leandro Bacuna and Aleksander Tonev respectively.
Bacuna looked very solid and athletic on the right, and one might argue that Lowton has a battle on his hands to re-secure the right back spot. While Bacuna doesn’t offer as much going forward, he’s much more solid defending.
Tonev, on the other hand, had what looked to be a much rougher outing. He worked hard and found great positions, but left his shooting boots in the dressing room, having four or five efforts well off the mark.
But while it would be easy to pan his performance, what I liked was the arrogant confidence he showed in shooting so early and often, and the good positions he found himself in. A couple times he should’ve taken the passing option, but it’s been a long time since Villa have had a midfielder drifting outside the box and willing to have a go.
One assumes he’ll eventually find the range, and when he does, he could be a very useful addition.
With Helenius coming on for Gabby, and then Sylla being brought on for Tonev as the second half wore on, Villa finished with a distinctly different look. It wasn’t necessarily a thing of beauty, but the playing time will have done them all good.
Unfortunately although he did offer some cover down the left flank, and despite his two early efforts, Weimann has been struggling overall.
With Bacuna anchoring the right side more solidly, most of Norwich’s attacking intent came down the left. Antonio Luna again struggled, and one wonders if we might see Bennett back in the frame after Tony Moon had seemed to claim the position after strong outings in the first three games.
Regardless, Villa fought to claim three vital points and a return to winning ways after three straight defeats. Benteke was smiling in the dugout, so let’s hope the injury isn’t too serious.
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