Aston Villa put in another shoddy performance as they were beaten 2-0 by local rivals West Brom at Villa Park.
The game got off to a frenetic start with both teams trying to catch their opponents out early on, and Villa should have taken the lead with around 10 minutes on the clock, but Tammy Abraham took a heavy touch when he had just the keeper to beat and the chance was gone.
For the next thirty minutes the two teams were evenly matched and it looked like they might go in at the break all square, but then came the five minutes that won the game for the visiting side.
In the 40th minute, Lovre Kalinic, all 6 foot 7 inches of him, was somehow beaten by a looping header from Hal Robson-Kanu when he was standing about half a foot off his line. Then, in the 45th minute, a speculative shot from Jay Rodriguez took a wicked deflection off Tommy Elphick and went in off the post.
Villa tried to get back into the game in the second-half, but West Brom, to their credit, closed the door and preserved the two goal lead that they had.
Here are our player ratings for today’s defeat to West Brom:
GK: Lovre Kalinic - 3
Took too long on the ball whenever he had it at his feet, kicked the ball out of play far too often, and was somehow beaten by a looping header when he was in a decent position to save it. Was subbed off at half-time.
RB: Alan Hutton - 4
Never gave up, but he was caught out of position far too many times and struggled with Murphy’s pace.
CB: Tommy Elphick - 5.5
Made a great block early on to prevent Robson-Kanu from opening the scoring, and was unlucky to see Rodriguez’s shot deflect off his knee and in off the post.
CB: Tyrone Mings - 6.5
Was dominant in the air once again and made a number of important blocks and interceptions.
LB: Kourtney Hause - 6.5
Hause got a lot of stick for his performance against Brentford on Wednesday, but he was so much better today. He was calm on the ball, made a number of important tackles, and put in some decent crosses.
RM: Ahmed Elmohamady - 3
Looked okay for the first 15 minutes or so, and then he just reverted back to the poor footballer we have seen far too often this season. He really needs to learn how to cross a ball properly.
CM: Glenn Whelan - 5
Passed the ball about well and did the job that was asked of him. Started to tire as the match wore on.
CM: Conor Hourihane - 1
Hourihane has been dire as of late, but he took it to a whole new level this afternoon. In fact, when he was subbed off on the hour mark, a loud cheer erupted from the home fans.
CM: John McGinn - 6
As usual, McGinn had to do Hourihane’s job as well as his own. He was always first to try and win the ball back and he made a number of neat runs. Picked up his tenth booking of the season, so will be banned for the next two games.
LM: Andre Green - 6
Made a number of darting runs in the first-half and was giving the West Brom defence something to think about, but he faded out in the second and was replaced with 20 minutes left to play.
ST: Tammy Abraham - 3
Had a great chance to score early on in the game but he fluffed his line. He also had a good opportunity late on, but he put his header wide.
SUB: Jed Steer - 5
Came on for Kalinic at half-time, but he had very little to do as West Brom concentrated on holding onto their two goal lead.
SUB: Jacob Ramsey - 5.5
The youngster came on in the 61st minute for the useless Conor Hourihane and gave glimpses of what he can do. He was willing to run at the West Brom defence to try and make something happen.
SUB: Jonathan Kodjia - 5
Sometimes Kodjia looks disinterested, but at least he tried to have an impact on the game this time. He won a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions, but nothing came of them.