Brighton’s João Pedro stuns Aston Villa to stall their Champions League charge

Aston Villa are running on fumes. The chance to go 10 points clear on Tottenham ended up reopening the door to the Champions League. Groggy from the short turnaround and shock result of their 4-2 Thursday defeat to Olympiakos, Unai Emery’s team could not replicate the energy of their manager, whose frantic touchline exhortations reflected a golden chance in danger of slipping away.

Ezri Konsa’s tired tackle on Simon Adingra served up a late penalty that Robin Olsen saved from João Pedro only for the Brazilian to nod home the rebound and score the first goal from a Brighton player since March. Continue reading...