Aston Villa 4 Blackburn 1:ASTON VILLA have been consistent only in their inconsistency and while the fluency of the football which swept aside a disintegrating Blackburn Rovers defence was good to watch, the significance of the performance will be judged by what happens next.

So far Villa have won back-to-back games in the Premier League only once. Ashley Young may be only 25 but with the captain’s armband and the vision and judgment to direct operations from his relatively new position behind the striker, he is fast becoming a profound influence in Villa’s attack.

On Saturday, moreover, Gerard Houllier lent his team an added dimension by giving Robert Pires his second Premier League start for the club, the 37-year-old having scored against Blackburn in the FA Cup. Pires may have lost pace but he can still sidle into scoring positions and in the first half, with Darren Bent finding it hard to shake off Grant Hanley, he represented Villa’s best chance of taking the lead. Once Marc Albrighton and Stewart Downing reverted to their old habits of outpacing the defence on the wings and with either providing accurate centres, it merely became a matter of how many Villa would score.

“Sometimes players try from 30 or 40 yards to make the final pass,” said Houllier. “It doesn’t work that way. At half-time I said: ‘Once you get in the final third keep passing and moving and you’ll find a solution’. I think that paid off.”

The match turned on the superb save from Brad Friedel which denied Jermaine Jones a goal. A flurry of Villa goals followed. Young’s penalty, after he had been brought down by Keith Andrews, a cross from Albrighton that was turned into his own net by Hanley, and a confident finish from Downing settled the contest. Nikola Kalinic came off the Blackburn bench to score via a deflection off Richard Dunne but Young’s second goal restored Villa’s winning margin.

Guardian Service