Aston Villa made it three pre-season wins from three thanks to a very comfortable 5-1 win over Walsall on Wednesday night.
Villa, as expected, started the game on the front foot and took the lead with just ten minutes on the clock. Some neat build-up play involving Wesley Moraes and Jack Grealish created the space to allow Frederic Guilbert to swing in a cross that was put away nicely by Jota.
Three minutes later, Jota turned provider as he played a perfect through ball to Wesley Moraes, who made no mistake with his finish. In the 28th minute, Villa were awarded a penalty when Moraes was clearly pulled down in the box. The Brazilian dusted himself down and slotted the penalty with ease.
Walsall, to their credit, didn’t let their heads drop and Stuart Sinclair pulled a goal back due to some slack defending from Henri Lansbury. Villa restored their three goal cushion when Jota got his second goal of the game with half-time fast approaching.
The second-half struggled to get going as Villa took their foot off the gas a little bit, but Villa grabbed their 5th goal of the match when Grealish converted a lovely cross from Moraes.
Dean Smith changed the entire outfield team with 20 minutes left on the clock, but despite having a number of decent chances they couldn’t add to the scoreline.
Here are our player ratings for tonight’s game against Walsall…
