Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton: In-form Undav tops final day ratings
They say that patience is a virtue and that has proven to be the case with Deniz Undav, whose strong end to his first season in England continued with another goal and top spot in the Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton player ratings.
Undav struggled for game time during his first six months in England. One the rare occasions he did make it onto the pitch, he looked bereft of confidence and produced a succession of interesting misses.
Not so much now. Five goals in his last eight appearances since the end of April have shown everyone why he was a regular scorer and such a highly rated finisher in Belgium with Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Albion had nothing to play for at Villa Park against hosts who needed to match Spurs’ result against 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United to qualify for the Europa League.
Despite already being on the beach, the Seagulls gave Villa plenty to think about. Alongside Undav, Alexis Mac Allister and Julio Enciso both shone in our Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton player ratings, which bring to a close one of the greatest seasons in Albion history.
Jason Steele – 6.57
Made some decent saves, especially during the first half when Villa were all guns blazing in their quest for seventh spot. What happens with the position of Brighton goalkeeper over the summer will be one of the more intriguing aspects of the transfer window.
Joel Veltman – 6.43
Jacob Ramsey turned into prime Arjen Robben down the Villa left flank and that gave Veltman a very testing time on what could have been his final Brighton appearance. Fingers crossed either a new contract is agreed or the Albion activate their one year extension option.
Adam Webster – 6.57
Could not keep up with Ramsey when he went racing clear and unselfishly squared to Ollie Watkins for the second Villa goal. Watkins gave Webster a testing time all afternoon.
Levi Colwill – 6.86
With Lewis Dunk rested, Colwill had more responsibility in terms of building play from the back. He seemed to thrive with that and was the highest scoring defender in the Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton ratings.
Pascal Gross – 6.71
Pervis Estupinan was given a long overdue rest at Villa Park and that meant Gross taking over at left back. The free kick which set up Undav gave him a 10th assist of 2022-23, his highest season total for the Albion.
Yasin Ayari – 6.14
Struggled to make much impact on his full Premier League debut. Will have better opportunities to showcase what he can do than a game which meant nothing to Brighton but which their opponents had to win.
Alexis Mac Allister – 7.43
Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened. Mac Allister had tears in his eyes at the full time whistle as he was given a right royal send off by the travelling Albion support with a move to Liverpool or Manchester City seeming likely. Came close to marking the occasion with a goal when his powerful second half volley skimmed just wide of the post.
Facundo Buonanotte – 6.43
Comes with the inconsistency you expect of a raw teenager learning his trade in a strange country. Nowhere near as effective as he had been in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City, yet he still had his moments. Most notably with one of those gliding runs earning the free kick from which Brighton scored.
DENIZ UNDAV – 7.71
A clever piece of control to bamboozle Tyrone Mings followed by a clinical finish lifting the ball over Emiliano Martinez gave him his goal. He produced another smart finish ruled out for offside against Enciso and his general link play working off Evan Ferguson was good.
Julio Enciso – 7.57
Like Undav, Enciso has come alive these last two months of the campaign. He caused Villa a lot of problems cutting in from the left flank and was unfortunate not to have an assist, VAR spotting he had strayed fractionally offside before tricking and teasing the home defence to set up Undav.
Evan Ferguson – 6.86
His movement got him into some good positions but he should have scored once if not twice, dragging a one-on-one wide and firing high into the Holte End.
Pervis Estupinan – 6.86
Having him sit on the bench for 45 minutes meant he had even more energy than normal to get up and down the left flank. Had Villa worried on a couple of occasions.
Moises Caicedo – 7.00
Whilst the full time scenes focussed on the potential departure of Mac Allister, Roberto De Zerbi confirmed afterwards that Caicedo will likely be leaving this summer too. He helped Brighton dominate possession more when sent on for the second half, leading Villa Park to become increasingly nervous as the game ticked towards its conclusion.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 6.29
Came on for the closing stages when Villa had given up attacking and instead were giving away niggly fouls and running down the clock. A much easier examination than he faced when excelling against Erling Haaland in midweek.
Kaoru Mitoma – 6.00
You could feel the tension rise amongst the home fans when Mitoma was introduced. Lived up to his reputation by running at Villa, creating several openings which his teammates should have done better with.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
