Aston Villa 1 – 3 Portsmouth

Two teams with high ambitions this year following their very respectable starts to the season clashed in a game that could be considered a six pointer in terms of the race for European places.

Neither team had yet gotten a grip on the game when on 8mins Pompey got a fortuitous lead. The ball came out to Pamarot, following a corner, whose deflected shot landed at the feet of Benjani who then in turn was tackled by Gardener only to see the ball roll into the net.

Villa pressed for the equaliser only for Laursen to waste their two best chances with tame headers from set-pieces that saw the big Dane take advantage of slack defending by Portsmouth,

Pompey weren’t on their game at all and could barley hold on to the ball as they looked a shadow of their usually solid selves. Both Agbonlahor and Carew had shots saved and blocked respectively before Muntari got the visitors the most unlikely and undeserved of second goals on 39mins

The Ghanain made room for himself before unleashing a beautifully bent left-foot shot from 20 yards that made it 2-0. James further frustrated Villa by making two great saves before the break.

The home side were required to chase the game in the second half which left a lot of room for Pompy on the break. Villa showed great urgency but ironically the visitors began to play for the first time in the match.

Carew had a header just wide on 55 mins but really Villa didn’t threaten a Portsmouth side that were getting better as the game wound on.

On 61mins Muntari put the game out of sight with another great solo effort, this time dispossessing Reo-Coker, nutmegging Knight and cooly slotting home a low driven effort.

Villa were given some hope when Young was tripped in the box and Barry smashed home the resulting penalty on 10mins. But the energy they displayed in the final 20mins was to account for nothing against an increasingly stubborn Portsmouth.

Indeed it was the visitors who looked the more likely to score as they caught Villa on the break several times. The best of these chances falling to Diop, who having being played in by Mendes managed to miss from 5 yards!

Perhaps an undeserved victory but it only highlighted the gap between Villa and the UEFA cup-spot chasers.