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| Steven Gerrard the manager / head coach of Aston Villa during the pre season friendly between Walsall and Aston Villa at Poundland Bescot Stadium on July 9, 2022 in Walsall, England. |
Aston Villa once again
breezed past near-neighbours Walsall as Leon Bailey, Cameron Archer and Ollie
Watkins bagged on a sweltering afternoon at the Bescot Stadium.
Steven Gerrard fielded
two different outfield line-ups with only Viljami Sinisalo retaining his place
in goal for the 90 minutes. With the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Boubacar
Kamara, Emi Martinez and Villa’s international stars arriving in Australia early,
it was a chance for a few youngsters and those on the periphery to impress.
New recruit Diego
Carlos made his Villa bow as the £26 million defender partnered skipper Tyrone
Mings for the first-half. Leon Bailey, though, got the scoring underway,
whacking home a sweet half-volley into the roof of the net after Anwar El
Ghazi’s header went straight into his path.
Before the break,
Cameron Archer – back home in Walsall here – continued his hot streak, pinching
the ball off Walsall trialist Ben Richards-Everton before racing through and
dinking up and over past Owen Evans.
After the break, Villa
brought on big-hitters Emi Buendia, Danny Ings and Douglas Luiz amongst others
and it was Watkins who cracked home goal No.3. The striker, eyeing a really
strong campaign given its World Cup year, finished well after Tommi O’Reilly’s
cute assist.
Soon after, Walsall’s
substitute keeper Adam Pryzbek was left red-faced after he palmed in Douglas
Luiz’s deep, in-swinging corner for 4-0.
