Birmingham: Douglas Luiz scored a dramatic late penalty as Aston Villa edged a five-goal thriller against 10-man Burnley to move level on points with leaders Liverpool.
Luiz netted a late penalty in 89th minute from Luiz gives as Villa overcame Burnley 3-2 at Villa Park on Saturday night, ensuring the club will end the year in the Premier League’s top three.
Villa quickly asserted their dominance and their pressure paid off in the 28th minute, as Ollie Watkins drifted infield and spread the ball wide to Bailey who cut in from the right and fired a deflected shot high into the net, Premier League reports.
Burnley responded quickly. Gudmundsson’s floated free-kick was met by Dara O’Shea at the far post. He headed across goal for Amdouni to stab home for his third goal of the season.
The momentum was with the visitors and Foster thought he had put Burnley ahead, latching on to a ball in behind Villa’s high line and slotting beyond Emiliano Martinez, but the forward was marginally offside.
With only a few minutes remaining of the first half, Villa’s lead was restored.
Watkins was again at the heart of the move, running on to a pass over the top before cutting a low ball back that was tucked away by Diaby for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Despite an encouraging start to the second half, Burnley’s task was made harder when in the 55th minute they were reduced to 10 men when Berge was shown a second yellow card for a pull on Douglas Luiz.
Shortly after the hour-mark came a flurry of chances for Villa to extend their lead. John McGinn forced James Trafford into a strong low save with his shot from range before the young goalkeeper was called into action to parry a follow-up from Diaby.
Moments later Villa came close again, Jacob Ramsey shooting over from close range from Ezri Konsa’s low cross. Chances continued to come for the Villa, Diaby again finding himself at the end of another well worked move, but his curling shot was just wide.
With just minutes remaining of the 90, Villa were presented with a golden opportunity to take the lead for a third time when Aston Villa academy graduate Aaron Ramsey, who now plays for Burnley, caught second-half substitute Duran in the penalty box.
Following a significant delay, Luiz stepped up and fired home from the spot via the underside of the bar to seal the points.
–IANS
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