Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Aston Villa

Aston Villa claimed a sixth consecutive victory via a convincing win against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Wednesday night.

Following a goalless first half at Amex Stadium, Marcus Rashford netted his first top flight goal for the club when he raced onto Morgan Rogers’ through ball and slotted home after 51 minutes.

Simon Adingra’s swift reply was ruled out by VAR before substitute Marco Asensio scored the eighth goal of his loan spell, clinically picking out the corner of the net after being found by Rogers.

The exclamation mark on a superb second-half display was added in the final seconds when Donyell Malen lashed home his first goal for Villa.

A fourth straight clean sheet was another pleasing aspect for the visitors as they leapfrogged their opponents in the table.

John McGinn and Pau Torres came into the starting XI as Unai Emery made two changes from Sunday’s victory at Preston North End, with the latter making his first start since suffering an injury in the reverse fixture in December.

The early stages were a tale of two headers for the visitors, who saw Ezri Konsa head straight at Bart Verbruggen before McGinn nodded wide on the back of a bright start.

Fresh from a brace in the FA Cup, Rashford was next to go close when he took down Boubacar Kamara’s lofted pass with a sublime touch, jinking inside and slashing an effort wide of the far post.

Villa continued to be the aggressors, crafting their attacks with care and precision, and Matty Cash sent a half-volley flying narrowly over the crossbar before Brighton looked to hit back when Adingra belted a shot just wide of the target.

A major flashpoint of the first half arrived 36 minutes in when Jacob Ramsey outfoxed Jack Hinshelwood and enticed a challenge in the box, going down under contact from the midfielder. A lengthy VAR check ensued before referee Simon Atwell’s decision of no penalty was upheld.

Minutes later the away side had Emi Martínez to thank for keeping them on level terms when he flung himself across goal to tip Yasin Ayari’s free-kick onto the post.

Brighton were enjoying a spell of pressure at the start of the second half when Jan Paul van Hecke headed at Martínez, but the chance proved to be the catalyst for the move that led to the opening goal.

The Argentine quickly rolled the ball out to Rogers, who wasted no time in setting Rashford away with a ball over the top. The striker left two defenders trailing in his wake before tucking the ball past Verbruggen in front of the jubilant away fans.

It was the home supporters turn to celebrate soon after when Adingra slammed home, but their joy was short-lived when Atwell was called to the pitchside monitor and adjudged that Kaoru Mitoma handled the ball in the buildup.

Amadou Onana, Ollie Watkins and Asensio came off the bench with just under 30 minutes left to add fresh impetus to Villa, and the latter was the man to extend his side’s advantage with 12 minutes to play.

Cash sent a tremendous driven ball down the right for Rogers, who advanced into the box before pulling the ball back to the Spaniard and watching on as Asensio dispatched a shot into the bottom corner.

Ten minutes of stoppage time passed without major incident before Malen drilled home his first in claret and blue in the dying seconds as Villa kept up their charge for European football next season.