Aston Villa continued their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Italian outfit AS Roma at Walsall’s Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium on Wednesday evening.
A scintillating first-half performance from Unai Emery’s side saw them race into a three-goal lead inside the opening 40 minutes, as 22 players got more minutes under their belt in WS1.
Having threatened inside the opening 30 seconds, two quickfire goals from Emi Buendía and Jacob Ramsey had put Villa in command by the 17th minute, before Ollie Watkins netted for the fourth pre-season game running five minutes before the break to complete the first-half scoring.
The hosts successfully navigated the second period and the threats the Serie A side posed, adding a fourth goal in the closing stages through Donyell Malen to secure their second victory of pre-season, before they tie up their preparations with games in France and Spain against Marseille and Villarreal respectively this weekend.
Aston Villa
Villa stated their intentions from the very beginning, and almost had the lead inside the opening 27 seconds, when Leon Bailey brilliantly brought down a long ball forward, cut inside and tested goalkeeper Mile Svilar with a stinging, low drive from the edge of the area.
Roma looked for a response, with Neil El Aynaoui curling narrowly wide from distance, but the hosts were starting to wrestle control, with Buendía causing problems for the visiting backline.
And it would take the Argentinian 15 minutes to hand the Villans the lead, arrowing a sublime free-kick into the top corner after Ollie Watkins had been felled just outside the box.
And just two minutes later, Emery’s men had doubled their advantage. A neat, reverse pass through the Italian defence from Youri Tielemans set Ramsey free in behind, and he made no mistake when one on one with Svilar to make it 2-0.
Jacob Ramsey
The hosts kept control of the game, and remained on the front foot in search of a third. Only a last-ditch block denied Ezri Konsa from finding a claret and blue shirt in the penalty area after a marauding run forward from the England defender.
But six minutes later, with five minutes to the break, it was three. Buendía was again involved, cutting the ball onto his left foot from a wide position and standing a ball into the area, which Watkins met in the air.
Villa’s No.11 guided his header off the post and in for his side’s third goal of the evening, and his fourth of pre-season so far, to send Emery’s side in at the break well in command.
Ollie Watkins
The second period opened up into a much more even affair, with Emery using the break to introduce eight fresh faces in claret and blue.
Youngster Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba brought the Villans a spark of exuberance and went close to finding the bottom corner within 10 minutes of the restart when bursting into a pocket of space on the edge of the area and pulling the trigger.
But Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were seeing much more of the ball after the interval, with substitutions of their own injecting some life back into the Italian outfit.
One of those brought off the bench, Matias Soule, came closest to clawing Roma back into the game, taking Artem Dovbyk’s pass on the edge of the area and arrowing an effort against Marco Bizot’s crossbar and away to Villa safety.
Donyell Malen
The affair looked to be grinding to a steady halt, but there was still time for Malen to get in on the act and net his second goal of pre-season to complete the scoring.
The Dutchman, who registered one goal and two assists in Villa’s three outings on their pre-season tour of the USA, took John McGinn’s pass in his stride and struck an effort into the bottom corner to put the game beyond doubt and round off a successful evening for those in claret and blue.
Villa now face two final friendlies to tie up their preparations for 2025/26, travelling to France on Saturday to face Marseille (ko 6pm BST), before a trip to Spain to take on Villarreal the following day (ko 8pm BST).
Villa: Martínez (Bizot 46'); Bogarde (Cash 46'), Konsa, Mings (Pau 46'), Maatsen (Digne 46'); Kamara (Iling Jr 64'), Tielemans (Onana 46'); Bailey (McGinn 46'), Buendía (Rogers 46' (Jimoh-Aloba 52')), Ramsey (Hemmings 64'); Watkins (Malen 46').
Subs not used: Gauci (GK); Rowe, Patterson, Burrowes.
Roma: Svilar; Çelik (Ghilardi 69'), Mancini, Hermoso; Wesley (Rensch 69'), El Aynaoui, Koné (Cristante 71'), Angeliño (Reale 77'); Baldanzi (Soule 57'), El Shaarawy (Cherubini 57'), Dovbyk.
Subs not used: Vasquez (GK); Zelenzy, Kumbulla, Salah-Darboe, Romano, Pisilli.