EPL: Seven-Goal Drama at Villa Park - Villa Beat Sunderland 4 Boost UCL Bid
Tammy Abraham’s late winner gave Aston Villa a 4-3 win over Sunderland in a Premier League thriller. Watkins scored twice as Villa moved 10 clear in the UCL race.
Ollie Watkins scored twice and Tammy Abraham struck late as Aston Villa beat Sunderland...
Aston Villa claimed a dramatic 4-3 Premier League win over Sunderland after withstanding a late Black Cats rally. The result opens up a 10-point gap in the race for Champions League football next season.
Fresh off a 7-1 aggregate win over Bologna in midweek that boosted their Champions League hopes via the Europa League, Villa looked to strengthen their top-five league position and wasted no time, taking the lead inside two minutes.
John McGinn latched onto Matty Cash’s pass and floated a cross from the byline to the back post, where Ollie Watkins was on hand to head home from a yard out.
Sunderland, still chasing Europe themselves, hit back within 10 minutes. Noah Sadiki teed up Chris Rigg, who bent a perfect left-footed strike past Emiliano Martínez to make it 1-1.
The 18-year-old’s first Premier League goal made him Sunderland’s third-youngest scorer in the competition, but it did little to swing momentum.
Villa responded quickly and struck the bar through Amadou Onana. After a brief quiet spell, the hosts regained the lead.
It was another goal from wide, this time Ian Maatsen firing a driven cross from the left across the six-yard box for Watkins to tap into an empty net.
Sunderland finished the first half strongly and threatened an equaliser, but Villa came out with the same intensity and struck again right after the restart.
McGinn won the ball back and started a slick passing move, with Watkins threading Morgan Rogers through for the England international to slot into the far bottom corner.
Villa pushed for more on the break after that, but they were caught off guard by a late Sunderland fightback.
What a finale at Villa Park 😱 pic.twitter.com/t7HLCzeISS
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 19, 2026
Trai Hume got Sunderland back in it after nicking the ball off Jadon Sancho, driving toward goal and drilling it into the far top corner from a tight angle.
Moments later, Enzo Le Fee slipped Wilson Isidor in behind. The Haitian capitalised on a slip from Martínez to tuck it inside the near post and send the away end into chaos.
But there was still one last twist for Villa. Lucas Digne whipped in a cross and fellow substitute Tammy Abraham applied a delicate flick to guide it past Robin Roefs and seal a wild 4-3 win.
Sunderland leave empty-handed but remain only two points off sixth place. For Aston Villa, the win creates some breathing room and lets them turn more attention to their Europa League run.
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