Brighton 1-0 Aston Villa: Match highlights and report.

Joao Pedro struck a late winner as Brighton put a dent in Aston Villa’s Champions League hopes at the Amex Stadium.

In the 87th minute, the Brazilian knocked home a rebound after Robin Olsen had saved his penalty. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) disqualified Pascal Gross’s earlier attempt for the home team for being offside, while John McGinn, the captain of Villa, was also deemed to have been inches ahead of Brighton’s defense before scoring at the other end.

Fourth-placed Tottenham, who lost 4-2 at Liverpool on Sunday, is still seven points behind Unai Emery’s team. Tottenham still has a game in hand. Villa lost to Olympiakos on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League, which was unfortunate. With two games remaining, Villa lost the opportunity to solidify their fourth-place position.

They played slowly the entire game, and in the 68th, Gross met a cross from Pedro with a deft finish to give Brighton a well-earned lead. However, VAR cut short his celebrations. The Villa goalkeeper Olsen, who was brought in to replace the injured Emiliano Martinez, was being exploited by the Seagulls, but they persisted.

How Brighton defeated Aston Villa

Referee Robert Jones indicated the spot as winger Simon Adingra went down in the box due to a challenge from Ezri Konsa. Pedro had Olsen swat away his penalty, which was almost in keeping with the game, but the striker was deft enough to nudge in the rebound.

Brighton’s league position

With the victory over Villa, Roberto de Zerbi’s team ended a dismal six-match losing streak and rose to 11th place in the standings for the first time since 1980. De Zerbi’s Brighton isn’t known for having many goals, but in their last ten Premier League games, they have only managed five goals.

The Seagulls entered the game with a strong offensive mindset, but in a messy match, clear-cut opportunities were hard to come by. The Sweden international Olsen made two excellent saves to stop Pedro after Villa’s defense was weakened, first to deny Gross. An amazing start to the season was highlighted by Brighton’s free-flowing style, but they appeared to have lost confidence.

Adingra and Pedro occasionally showed off their skill, but as Brighton’s season comes to an unsatisfactory close, there appears to be a lack of unity among the Brighton attack. Had Pedro not scored his 20th goal of the year, it would have been a third straight game without a goal.

Due to their team’s string of losses this week, Villa supporters have suffered more than most. They had high hopes and expectations heading into their first-leg Europa Conference League semi-final matchup with Olympiakos. After the 4-2 loss at home, there was shock, and now they will be much more miserable due to the loss to Brighton.

Villa would have qualified for the Champions League the next season and gained momentum going into their second-leg rematch in Greece with three points. In order to ensure that his team doesn’t lose the opportunity to have this season be remembered, Emery will need to rally his players for one final drive.