Aston Villa 0-0 Ipswich Town – Half-Time
Alex Palmer made his Premier League goal debut, although Leif Davis and captain Sam Morsy were out due to minor ailments. The Egyptian international had developed his issue early in the week, and the full-back was injured during training on Friday.
Palmer started in goal and Aro Muric was benched as Kieran McKenna made four changes from the team that lost 2-1 at home to Southampton two weeks ago.
Ben Johnson started on the right, and Conor Townsend replaced Davis at wing-back for the Blues’ first league start. At the center of the defense was captain Dara O’Shea.
Kalvin Phillips partnered with Jens Cajuste in center midfield, with Julio Enciso and Omari Hutchinson behind Liam Delap, the only central striker.
Axel Disasi made his Villa debut at the back after joining from Chelsea, and Ollie Watkins returned up front after suffering a groin injury, but Ezri Konsa and Leon Bailey left.
Villa named just eight substitutes, with recent additions Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio on the bench, former Blues defender Tyrone Mings due to a knee injury, and two keepers.
Shortly after kickoff, Town players attempted a back pass, but Emiliano Martinez made a comfortable stop after Boubacar Kamara scuffed a clearance from the left of his box at a nearly 90-degree angle towards his own goal.
The appeals were at the opposite end in a matter of seconds, with Morgan Rogers, a former Blues loan target, pursuing a ball down the left, beating Jacob Greaves, and then tumbling down as he passed Palmer, who backed off from a challenge after possibly making an early push.
Despite Villa’s appeals, referee Robert Jones showed no interest, and VAR concurred with his conclusion.
The Blues were by no means pinned in their half, but the early going had been mostly Villa with no other worries. The flag was raised when Enciso carried the ball over halfway and fed it to Hutchinson, who misplaced it at first but managed to get back on it and find Delap, who shot over on seven.
After O’Shea blocked Watkins’ left-wing cross and Cajuste stopped his rebounding shot, the England international’s first threat came 1 minute later.
On 13, Enciso hit a nice shot from a distance, but it was too close to Martinez, who was unfazed.
Rogers found Donyell Malen in space to the right two minutes later, but Townsend crossed to stop his shot.
In the sixteenth minute, Kamara was knocked down and had to be replaced by former Blue Mings, forcing the host team to make a change.
While that adjustment was being made, Ensico was receiving treatment for a problem of his own. The Paraguayan soon passed out in obvious discomfort, and Jack Clarke took over.
In the 25th minute, Phillips curled a shot directly at Martinez from the second of two free kicks in hazardous areas. The first had been floated in after O’Shea had been fouled.
After a strong period of Town play in the Villa half that ended when Mings appeared to foul Johnson but referee Jones deemed it a fair challenge, Town skillfully played their way out from the back on the left, with Townsend threading in Delap behind Andres Garcia. The Blues’ top scorer, who has nine goals, cut in but was off balance when his shot struck a defender three minutes later. Three minutes later, three-time Villa loanee Tuanzebe was harshly given the game’s first yellow card for a foul after he had clearly won the ball.
Watkins ought to have put the home team ahead two minutes later. Disasi pushed the England attacker through with a straight long pass from the back in behind O’Shea. However, Palmer’s advance allowed the striker to put the ball beyond the post and across the keeper with a left foot. The Blues were fortunate to escape.
When Town was down to 10 men in the 40th minute, their mission became much more difficult. Referee Jones promptly gave Jacob Ramsey a second yellow card and then a red when he rushed towards the area’s edge and was pushed back by Tuanzebe.
Tuanzebe can reasonably believe that the first card was severe, even though the second card appeared to be the right choice. However, the challenge that resulted in the second was extremely reckless given that they had already been booked.
John McGinn, the captain of Villa, took the free kick, but it struck Townsend, who was among several Blues players who ran out of the wall.
In less than a minute, Ramsey found Watkins on the left side of the field, and the former Brentford player cut back to Rogers, whose move toward the goal was strangely deflected by Palmer, who had done a fantastic job of getting back up after first covering the cross.
The Blues were under the cosh with Villa camped in their final third since the red card. Town saw out four minutes of time added on despite the home side penning them inside their own area. Until the red card, Blues manager McKenna would have been happy with how the half had progressed. Despite Villa having most of the ball, Town had prevented any serious chances, while having had a spell on top and having created a couple of opportunities at the other end.
The game became an attack vs defense drill after the red card, but the Blues held strong despite intense pressure thanks to Palmer’s incredible save. In the second half, there will be more of the same.
Aston Villa: Disasi, Digne, McGinn (c), Martinez, Garcia, Kamara (Mings 16), Tielemans, Malen, Ramsey, Rogers, and Watkins. Subs: Rashford, Jimoh-Aloba, Asensio, Maatsen, Zych, Bogarde, and Olsen.
Town: Phillips, Cajuste, Johnson, Hutchinson, Palmer, Tuanzebe, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Townsend, Enciso (Clarke 18), and Delap. Godfrey, Woolfenden, Luongo, Taylor, Philogene, Hirst, Broadhead, and Muric were substitutes. Robert Jones of Merseyside is the referee. Michael Oliver is the VAR.
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