Anwar El Ghazi’s last-gasp penalty fired 10-man Aston Villa to a dramatic 1-0 win against Wolves on Saturday.
In the first of the day’s Premier League games, Dutch winger El Ghazi struck from the spot in stoppage-time to lift Villa into eighth place.
Villa had Douglas Luiz sent off in the final minutes for two bookings after the Brazilian midfielder caught Daniel Podence with an elbow.
But Nelson Semedo’s foul on John McGinn triggered El Ghazi’s penalty before Wolves midfielder Joao Moutinho was dismissed for a second yellow card just moments from full-time in a fractious local derby.
After two successive defeats, Villa will hope they are back on track with just their second win in six games.
Villa have won four of their five away league matches this season, while mid-table Wolves have only one win in their last five games.
With Raul Jimenez out after surgery on the fractured skull he suffered against Arsenal, Wolves handed a first Premier League start to 18-year-old striker Fabio Silva — a club record £35 million ($46 million) signing from Porto in the close-season.
It was two weeks since Villa last played after the Newcastle match was postponed due to their opponents’ coronavirus outbreak and they took a while to get going as a result.
Villa appealed for a penalty when the ball glanced off Romain Saiss’ shoulder as he stooped to head clear, but VAR ignored their protests.
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Wolves finished the first half strongly, with Daniel Podence forcing Emiliano Martinez to save his low drive.
Martinez kept out Leander Dendoncker’s stinging strike and Silva nearly broke the deadlock when his glancing header drifted narrowly wide.
Silva was inches away from a first Premier League goal when he took Podence’s pass and rifled his first-time shot past Martinez, only to see the ball cannon back off the post.
Luiz’s stray elbow earned him a red card from Mike Dean in the 85th minute, but El Ghazi won it from the penalty spot after McGinn’s burst was halted by Semedo.
On Friday night at Ellan Road stadium, West Ham boss David Moyes labelled the use of VAR as “rubbish” after his side had to come from behind to beat Leeds 2-1 and move up to fifth.
The Hammers could not have had a worse start as Mateusz Klich opened the scoring at the second attempt from the penalty spot after Lukasz Fabianski was penalised for coming off his line in saving his Polish international teammate’s first spot-kick.
Moyes was left exasperated with the decision based on the smallest of margins, while the retake was allowed to stand despite encroaching by Leeds players.
“Until we get the VAR sorted I don’t think I’ll be happy,” said Moyes.
“It’s a really good result but we had another setback after 30 seconds. There are some terrible decisions that are happening at the moment.