LONDON, Sep 30: Ollie Watkins scored a hat trick as Aston Villa routed Brighton 6-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
It was Watkins’ second hat trick of the season, having also netted three against Hibernian in the Europa Conference League in August.
An own goal by Pervis Estupinan and strikes from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz completed Villa’s win, while on-loan Barcelona forward Ansu Fati scored a consolation goal for Brighton.
Both teams had enjoyed impressive starts to the season, with Brighton going into the game at Villa Park third in the standings. But Villa, which started the game in sixth, came out on top to inflict a third loss in four games in all competitions for Brighton.
Watkins scored his first in the 14th minute and added a second in the 21st.
Estupinan’s own goal in the 26th gave Villa 3-0 lead going in at halftime.
Fati pulled one back for Brighton five minutes after the break, but it didn’t spark a comeback.
Watkins completed his hat trick in the 65th, with Ramsey making it 5-1 in the 85th.
Luiz piled on the misery for Brighton with a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Wolves shock City
Manchester City’s winning start to the Premier League season ended in a 2-1 loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
An own goal from Ruben Dias and a goal from Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan snapped City’s run of winning its opening six Premier League games of the season, despite a free-kick goal from Julian Alvarez.
Three days after City’s first loss of the season to Newcastle United in the League Cup, the defeat to Wolves meant back-to-back losses for City for the first time since January.
Mateo Kovacic started for City in the absence of the suspended Rodri. Josko Gvardiol was replaced by Nathan Ake in the City defence, with Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips on the bench.
Wolves took the lead in the 13th minute when City gave away the ball, with Pedro Neto picking up possession and advancing from his own half to the visitors’ box, where his cross was diverted by Dias past Ederson and into his own goal.
City conceded the opening goal for the fourth time in its last five games in all competitions.
City drew level in the 58th minute when Alvarez curled a fine free-kick into the top corner of the net.
Eight minutes later, Hwang restored the Wolves’ lead. The South Korea international saw his first shot blocked but teammate Matheus Cunha reacted quickly to pass the rebound back to Hwang to score with his second attempt.
United’ slump continues
After back-to-back wins, it’s back to the drawing board for Manchester United.
Erik ten Hag’s struggling team suffered a fifth defeat in nine games as Joachim Andersen fired Crystal Palace to a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday.
Boos rang around the stadium after the final whistle as a solemn-faced Ten Hag made his way to the locker room in the Manchester rain.
So much for the optimistic words from the Dutch coach in his pre-game program notes when he spoke of his team taking “another step forward” following the mid-week win against Palace in the English League Cup.
That victory came after United had also beaten Burnley in the league. But, Anderson’s first-half strike, when lashing Eberechi Eze’s free kick past Andre Onana, put a halt to United’s recent revival and raised fresh questions about its prospects this season.
Ten Hag is struggling to find consistency after leading the club back into the UEFA Champions League last season and delivering the first piece of silverware in six years when winning the League Cup.
This latest loss typified United’s fragility after going behind for the fourth time in six league games this term. It is also successive defeats at home in the league, following the 3-1 loss to Brighton earlier this month. (AP)
