- Villa now 8 points off safety
- Garde gets 2 win in 5 PL games
- Norwich lose fifth-straight
Aston Villa beat Norwich City 2-0 at Villa Park on Saturday to breath new life into their fight against relegation.
[ REACTION: Agbonlahor says Villa now ready to produce great escape ]
Goals in each half from Joleon Lescott and Gabriel Agbonlahor were enough to secure Remi Garde his second victory in the last five games and Norwich only mustered a few chances late on as Alex Neil will be a very worried man.
With the three points -- just their third victory in 25 PL outings this season -- Villa are still eight points from safety but have given themselves a chance as they now sit on 16 points. Norwich’s alarming slide continues as they drop into the bottom three after five-straight defeats.
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Norwich started brightly but the first big chance of the game fell to Villa as Leandro Bacuna’s shot went towards Agbonlahor but he couldn’t convert the chance.
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Norwich got back into the game before half time as Steven Naismith drove towards the edge of the box but sent his low shot wide of Mark Bunn’s near post. A great cross from Russell Martin then found Sebastien Bassong but his header went wide when he should have done better.
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Villa took the lead right on half time with Lescott heading home Carles Gil’s looping free kick from the right. 1-0 to Villa and the home side had a lifeline in their battle against the drop.
Six minutes into the second half Villa led 2-0 as a hopeful ball down the left flank found Agbonlahor who dinked the ball over the onrushing Declan Rudd and into the empty. 2-0 to Villa.
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Norwich struggled to create chances in the driving rain in Birmingham, and Bacuna should have put Villa 3-0 up but smashed his effort horribly wide.
The Canaries did have two chances late on but Martin’s header was cleared off the line, then Mbokani was denied following a great last-ditch tackle from Jonas Okore. Despite those hairy moments, Villa held on for what could prove to be a priceless three points as they continue their battle against relegation.