LONDON, Dec 21 ― A brace from Anwar El Ghazi and a second-half Bertrand Traore strike gave Aston Villa a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League today, handing new Baggies boss Sam Allardyce a defeat in his first game in charge.
Allardyce replaced the sacked Slaven Bilic in midweek but there was little he could do as his side went behind when El-Ghazi deftly steered home Traore's cross to the far post in the fifth minute.
West Brom had captain Jake Livermore sent off following a VAR review for a reckless tackle on Jack Grealish and Allardyce's new charges barely threatened after that, managing a single shot in the whole game.
With the home side struggling to contain playmaker Jack Grealish, Villa opened the second half strongly as John McGinn stooping to head wide and Ollie Watkins also had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR.
Traore finally added to their goal tally in the 84th minute with a superb solo effort, slicing through the middle and rolling home a cool finish for his first Premier League goal.
“I was waiting for the first goal and happy to get that. The early assist gave me confidence and showed me how I have to go through the game,” Traore told the BBC.
Minutes later Grealish was bundled over in the box and El Ghazi powered the resulting spot kick straight down the middle to make it 3-0 and a win that lifts Villa to ninth spot on 22 points after 12 games.
West Brom remain second from bottom with seven points from 14 games, and Allardyce will have to move quickly to shore up a defence that looked overwhelmed for most of the 90 minutes.
“We need everybody fit and we need everybody to be on the pitch if we're to fight our way out of this position,” Allardyce said. ― Reuters
