September 30, (THEWILL) – Aston Villa stormed to an emphatic 6-1 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, with striker Ollie Watkins netting a superb hat-trick.
The home side made a blistering start, racing into a three goal lead inside the opening 26 minutes. Watkins opened the scoring in the 14th minute after a flowing move, before adding his and Villa’s second shortly after. Brighton’s misery was compounded when Pervis Estupinan turned the ball into his own net.
The Seagulls responded after the break as January signing Ansu Fati netted his first goal for the club, but Watkins sealed his treble in the 65th minute with a deflected strike. Late goals from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz rounded off the rout for Villa.
The emphatic win sees Villa leapfrog Brighton into third place in the English Premier League table on goal difference, ahead of the remainder of the weekend’s matches.
Both sides will now turn their attention to European commitments next week. Villa host Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, while Brighton travel to Marseille in the Europa League looking to bounce back from this heavy defeat.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
