Aston Villa slumped to a bitterly disappointing 1-0 defeat away at Brighton on Sunday in a game where they could have really boosted their Champions League chances.
Unai Emery‘s side were second best for the bulk of the contest, with a slightly improved beginning to the second-half fizzling out before Villa could ever really threaten.
Brighton’s Simon Adingra was a constant thorn in the Villa side and Ezri Konsa endured a difficult afternoon against the young winger.
This culminated in Konsa clumsily bringing down the Brighton attacker to give away an 85th-minute penalty which was initially saved by stand-in goalkeeper Robin Olsen before Joao Pedro scored the rebound.
There appeared to be a lot of tired legs in the Villa ranks undoubtedly owing to their Europa Conference League exploits, but Emery would not have been happy with his players.
It was not just the performance of his team that frustrated the Spanish manager though, as he also vented his anger at the referee.
Stephen Warnock shocked by referee decision in Aston Villa defeat
Whilst it is difficult to argue with the penalty that Villa conceded, there were a number of decisions early in the contest that raised a few eyebrows.
Stephen Warnock was covering the game for BBC Sport and was in disbelief at what he saw in the 21st minute as Leon Bailey did not get a free-kick despite a blatant pull of his shirt from a Brighton player.
The former Villa defender explained: “The referee has just missed another one. I can’t believe what I’ve just watched.”
“Adingra has just pulled Bailey’s shirt and the referee has just said “play on”. Unai Emery is not happy with the referee.”
Unai Emery receives fifth booking of the season in Villa loss
Whilst this decision, – as well as a couple of others – was puzzling, referee Robert Jones can take no blame for the manner in which Villa lost the game.
The Villans were lethargic and looked bereft of ideas as they faced a Seagulls side badly out of form.
Emery’s frustration with both his side and the referee came to the boil late on, as the 52-year-old chastised the officials.
The Villa boss was subsequently cautioned, picking up what is his fifth yellow card in the Premier League this season.
Despite both Warnock and Emery’s disbelief at the lack of free-kick for the shirt pull on Bailey, the officials got the big decisions right as goals from both Pascal Gross and John McGinn were chalked off for offside; the former via a VAR intervention.
Now, Emery and Villa must regain their composure as they bid to overturn the 4-2 defeat they suffered in the home leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos on Thursday.
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