Aston Villa 3-0 Derby County: Player Ratings From Pride Park

Aston Villa threw down a dominant away performance at Pride Park. Derby County had no answer for the claret and blues in the second-half.

Aston Villa produced its most important victory on Saturday – taking all 3 points away to Derby County before the international break.

Goals from John McGinn, Tammy Abraham, and Conor Hourihane in the second-half ensured Villa and Blues will be close in the table for the Second City Derby in two weeks’ time.

Dean Smith opened the match with an unchanged 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 as Hourihane kept his place in the No. 6 position. Birkir Bjarnason returned from a groin injury to displace Anwar El Ghazi on the bench. From the whistle, it was mostly Aston Villa on top. Jack Grealish drew a foul 2-3 seconds in and weaved through Frank Lampard’s side just a minute later. Goals were hard to come by in the first-half. In fact, there weren’t any. The claret and blues nearly conceded shortly before break – twice – but Ørjan Nyland and some unfortunate finishing came to the rescue.

Neil Taylor, nursing a small knock, was taken off at halftime for Ahmed Elmohamady. Alan Hutton slid to left-back and played well. Derby had their own injury as Mason Bennett was replaced in the 50th-minute.

Thereafter, Villa dominated, but could not find a goal. It took until Yannick Bolasie came on in the 70th-minute. His left-footed cross from the left-wing found a surging John McGinn for a downward header.

The goals came flooding in as Tammy Abraham calmly slotted home soon after. Conor Hourihane ended the match with a free-kick wonder goal. 3-0 to the good guys,.