Aston Villa’s fine form in front of goal continued as they stormed to a stunning 4-1 win away at AZ Alkmaar to move top of their Europa Conference League group.
AZ were semi-finalists in this competition last season but were blown away by Unai Emery’s clinical side, who took a 2-0 half-time lead thanks to goals from Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans.
Ollie Watkins’ ninth goal of the season and John McGinn’s close-range strike added gloss to the scoreline after half-time, though AZ pulled one back through Ibrahim Sadiq’s stunning effort from range.
Overall, Villa scored four goals from five shots to make it 16 goals in their last five matches, all of which have seen Emery’s side go unbeaten.
AZ had the first chance of the game as Evangelos Pavlidis crossed from the left for Dani de Wit, whose header inside the area fell just wide after a heavy deflection off Clement Lenglet.
But Villa soon had the advantage as Bailey swivelled and shot on the edge of the box past Mat Ryan in the AZ goal, just seconds after the Villa winger messed up a one-on-one by failing to get a shot away.
AZ tried to respond with Pavlidis firing straight at Emiliano Martinez but it was not long until the visitors had a second.
John McGinn intercepted Sven Mijnans’ slack square pass in the AZ half and drove at goal, before squaring for the unmarked Tielemans in the box. The Belgiun midfielder took a touch before slotting underneath Ryan’s legs.
AZ then had a glorious chance to equalise when Villa almost gifted them a goal while playing out the back. Boubacar Kamara lost the ball to Mijnans on the edge of his box, leaving Pavlidis with lots of time to fire past Martinez.
The AZ striker’s effort was too high, however, as the most clear-cut chance of the first half went begging.
That goal proved crucial as Villa grabbed a third shortly after half-time. Bailey was released by Tielemans after good link up play by Watkins. Bailey’s shot was parried but Watkins had circled round to tap in the third.
Five minutes later, it was four as Kamara released Bailey down the right flank and he crossed for McGinn, who tapped in at the near post after a clever run.
Villa felt the game was done at that point and they were caught out on the break as substitute Bruno Martins Indi played a stunning long ball across the pitch for Sadiq, who chested down the pass before finding Martinez’s bottom corner from distance.
Despite the hosts gaining confidence from that consolation goal – with Tiago Dantas going close soon after Sadiq’s strike – Villa saw out the victory with ease and without urgency. (Sky)