Villa virtually seal qualification after big win in Scotland

Aston Villa have all but booked their place in the Europa Conference League after putting five goals past Hibernian in Edinburgh.

Unai Emery fielded a strong line-up in Scotland that included John McGinn facing the side he joined Aston Villa from in 2018. Hibs also featured former Villa youngster Jake Doyle-Hayes on the bench.

Lee Johnson’s side started the game brightly but their night suddenly became very difficult in the 17th minute when Villa opened the scoring. Lucas Digne’s cross from the left found the head of Ollie Watkins who was able to direct the ball into the far corner.

Watkins’ head made it 2-0 with just over a half hour gone. A corner from the left was nodded on by Diego Carlos allowing Watkins to steer the ball home from close range.

It was all too familiar for goal number three shortly before half-time. It was another Digne delivery from the left for this goal with Leon Bailey heading in from near the far post.

Villa were looking to wrap the contest up early but were forced into a half-time change. Goalkeeper Emi Martínez was forced off with a knock with Robin Olsen taking his place.

Olsen was soon called into action when Élie Youan managed to find some space in the box and see his curling effort tipped over the bar but it was about as close as Hibs would come in the time.

Just a minute after that shot, Watkins had the ball in the back of the net after a low Digne cross. The striker was quick to celebrate for his hat-trick before the offside flag slowed him down. Fortunately for the Villa man, he was able to resume those celebrations when VAR awarded the goal – it meant a hat-trick of goals for Watkins and a hat-trick of assists for Digne.

The visitors rounded out the scoring with just over 15 minutes to go from the penalty spot. Substitute Bertrand Traoré was clumsily brought down by Lewis Stevenson resulting in Douglas Luiz firing his penalty in the opposite direction of the diving Marshall.

The 5-0 scoreline makes next week’s game in Birmingham almost a walk in the park for Villa, short of Hibs somehow pulling off a miracle – something we saw little evidence of happening based on their performance tonight.

Johnson’s side shouldn’t be too downhearted though, they were facing a team with incomparable financial clout and one of the favourites to eventually go on and win the tournament.

Man of the Match: It’s hard not to give it to hat-trick hero Ollie Watkins but we’re going to give it to Lucas Digne. Hibs simply had no answer for his movement or deliveries on the left.

A commanding lead to take back to Villa Park, courtesy of our joint-biggest European win. 💪 pic.twitter.com/1ylIP4nK2f

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 23, 2023