Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion

Aston Villa will play European football next season after securing a seventh-place finish with victory against Brighton & Hove Albion on the final day of the Premier League season.

Spurred on by a vociferous Villa Park, the hosts flew out of the blocks and forged ahead when Douglas Luiz fired home after eight minutes.

The architect of the first goal, Jacob Ramsey played creator once again when he unselfishly teed up Ollie Watkins to make it 2-0 with 28 minutes played.

VAR had offered Villa a reprieve when Deniz Undav had netted earlier in the half, but it got involved once again before half-time to overturn another offside decision against the striker as he halved the lead.

A nervy second half saw chances come and go for both sides, but Villa held on to secure their place in Europe for the first time since 2010.

Thanks to a remarkable run since Unai Emery took over as head coach, the hosts had their destiny in their own hands as they attempted to end a 13-year wait for European football.

And after an electric build-up to the game off the pitch, Villa began the game like they meant business, striking the crossbar with four minutes played via Leon Bailey.

The capacity crowd inside Villa Park didn’t have to wait too much longer to erupt with jubilation, however, as newly crowned Player of the Season Luiz netted the opener on eight minutes.

Ramsey ventured down the left-hand side before pulling the ball back for the onrushing Brazilian, who sent a shot arrowing into the bottom corner.

Elation turned to despair ten minutes later when Brighton equalised via Undav. But the home fans were celebrating once more when VAR intervened and spotted an offside in the build-up.

A frenetic match showed no signs of slowing down and with 26 minutes on the clock, Villa grabbed their second of the game.

Leon Bailey played an inch-perfect through ball and Ramsey bore down on goal before tapping the ball into the path of Watkins for an easy finish, with the striker becoming the first Villa player to score 15 goals in a Premier League season since Christian Benteke in 2012/13 (19).

VAR had worked in the home side’s favour once, but it intervened to award Brighton a goal when Undav found the net again, with the striker having initially been ruled offside.

In the first half, Villa had enjoyed success capitalising on any stray passes from Brighton’s backline, and that trend continued when Jason Steele gave the ball to Luiz at the start of the second.

The hosts worked the ball to Bailey and the Jamaican burst into the box before crossing for Ramsey, who couldn’t hide his anguish after failing to hit the target from four yards out.

Brighton were carrying a threat in wide areas, aided by the introduction of Kaoru Mitoma, but were unable to get in behind Villa’s backline as often as they had in the first half.

The tension around Villa Park increased with each passing minute, but it could have been lifted had Watkins been able to generate more power when presented with a free header with 20 minutes left.

Lucas Digne curled a free-kick wide in the closing minutes before the final whistle sent the home fans wild, serenading their heroes in the knowledge that the club will compete in the Europa Conference League play-offs next season.