Aston Villa faced Norwegian side Molde at Villa Park on Saturday as preparations for the return of the Premier League continued.
Following the visit of Brentford in midweek, Steven Gerrard’s squad continued to maintain their match sharpness, with a 3-1 win secured courtesy of first-half goals from Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn and Ollie Watkins.
Villa took the lead inside five minutes, with Ramsey firing into the far corner with his left foot after Calum Chambers’ deflected shot rolled into his path.
The advantage was doubled on 11 minutes, as Emi Buendía laid the ball off for McGinn to side-foot beautifully into the top corner.
Two then became three midway through the first half, with Watkins heading Lucas Digne’s deflected cross beyond Jacob Karlstrøm and into the corner of the net.
Ramsey and Matty Cash both had chances to extend Villa’s lead, while Molde went close when Magnus Grødem’s curling effort hit the crossbar two minutes before the break.
The visitors got a goal back inside the first 10 minutes of the second period, with Kristoffer Haugen finishing clinically after finding a pocket of space.
Robin Olsen made a good back-post save moments later, with chances few and far between during the final half an hour as both teams made a raft of substitutions.
Focus now turns to Wednesday night, when Villa will return to league action against Leeds United under the Villa Park lights.
