CHRISTIAN BENTEKE SCORED a hat-trick as Aston Villa thrashed Sunderland 6-1 to give themselves real hope of avoiding relegation from the English Premier League.
Victory saw Villa pull five points clear of the relegation zone with three games left to play. FA Cup finalists Wigan, who have a game in hand over the Birmingham club, are now in greatest danger of joining already demoted Queens Park Rangers and Reading as one of the three clubs relegated from England’s top flight.
Defeat halted Sunderland’s revival under Italian manager Paolo di Canio and this loss was compounded by the sending-off of Stephane Sessegnon.
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It left the Black Cats as one of three clubs on 37 points and completed a miserable round of matches for the north-east after Sunderland’s arch-rivals Newcastle were hammered 6-0 at home to Liverpool on Saturday.
The rout was started by a fantastic, low drive from Villa centre-back Ron Vlaar, who beat Simon Mignolet from 35-yards out:
Sunderland were level within 60 seconds as Danny Rose scored after a neat one-two with the otherwise ineffective Danny Graham. The home side had a penalty appeal turned down soon after but their pressure paid off when Austrian forward Andreas Weimann controlled a Matthew Lowton pass and slotted home.
2-1 at the break but Benteke took over in the second-half. Two headers, on 55 and 59 minutes, made it 4-1 and an apoplectic Paolo Di Canio responded by bringing on James McLean for Seb Larsson. The Sunderland coach saw his temperature rise on 70 minutes when Stephane Sessegnon saw red for a late lunge on Yacouba Sylla. Within two minutes of the sending off, Benteke had his third following a crisp finish from a tight angle.
The Black cats’ misery was compounded when Gabriel Agbonlahor latched onto a weak David Vaughan back-pass to rattle in the sixth. Vila are now up to 16th, five points clear of Wigan in the relegation zone.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, Di Canio said, “It is a very bad performance, it’s not acceptable. But, it’s happened and we have to make sure this humiliation makes us understand that the job is not done. Two wins in a row is not enough to stay up.”
6 of the best and a Benteke hat-trick for Villa as Di Canio fumes
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE SCORED a hat-trick as Aston Villa thrashed Sunderland 6-1 to give themselves real hope of avoiding relegation from the English Premier League.
Victory saw Villa pull five points clear of the relegation zone with three games left to play. FA Cup finalists Wigan, who have a game in hand over the Birmingham club, are now in greatest danger of joining already demoted Queens Park Rangers and Reading as one of the three clubs relegated from England’s top flight.
Defeat halted Sunderland’s revival under Italian manager Paolo di Canio and this loss was compounded by the sending-off of Stephane Sessegnon.
It left the Black Cats as one of three clubs on 37 points and completed a miserable round of matches for the north-east after Sunderland’s arch-rivals Newcastle were hammered 6-0 at home to Liverpool on Saturday.
The rout was started by a fantastic, low drive from Villa centre-back Ron Vlaar, who beat Simon Mignolet from 35-yards out:
YouTube credit: VideoFootballHD3
Sunderland were level within 60 seconds as Danny Rose scored after a neat one-two with the otherwise ineffective Danny Graham. The home side had a penalty appeal turned down soon after but their pressure paid off when Austrian forward Andreas Weimann controlled a Matthew Lowton pass and slotted home.
2-1 at the break but Benteke took over in the second-half. Two headers, on 55 and 59 minutes, made it 4-1 and an apoplectic Paolo Di Canio responded by bringing on James McLean for Seb Larsson. The Sunderland coach saw his temperature rise on 70 minutes when Stephane Sessegnon saw red for a late lunge on Yacouba Sylla. Within two minutes of the sending off, Benteke had his third following a crisp finish from a tight angle.
The Black cats’ misery was compounded when Gabriel Agbonlahor latched onto a weak David Vaughan back-pass to rattle in the sixth. Vila are now up to 16th, five points clear of Wigan in the relegation zone.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, Di Canio said, “It is a very bad performance, it’s not acceptable. But, it’s happened and we have to make sure this humiliation makes us understand that the job is not done. Two wins in a row is not enough to stay up.”
*Additional reporting © AFP, 2013
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