Blades secure fourth EPL win with 10 men against Villa

Mar 05, 2021 06:00 am

Sheffield United's players won't be able to celebrate their 1-0 victory over Aston Villa with 10 men yesterday morning (Singapore time) as they face Southampton tomorrow, so their manager Chris Wilder plans to drink their celebratory beers instead.

The bottom-of-the-table Blades secured their fourth win of the season despite losing defender Phil Jagielka to a red card in the 57th minute, with striker David McGoldrick getting the goal.

"It's everything you want out of a performance. We've defended at times poorly this year and been architects of our own downfall, but you saw some top-drawer defending tonight," said Wilder, who added that his team never lacked character despite a poor season.

Villa manager Dean Smith was disappointed with his team's attacking effort.

"When they went down to 10 men, they threw their bodies on the line and the quality was probably the difference, but we should have won that game comfortably," he said.

"We've given a sloppy goal away. That's their only effort really," added Smith, whose side play Wolverhampton Wanderers next on Sunday. - REUTERS