Collins : Like Reid, a quiet night but once again steady and composed 6. Cresswel l: Usual highly competent performance from front to back 7. Noble : Finest performance in many months β the man was everywhere. Huge display 9. Kouyate : Terrific late surge with Valencia for the goal and high energy second half performance 7.
Song : Off the pace and really not looking anything like the player he was early last season 5. Payet: Not at his best and unable to find that burst of pace and killer pass 6. Antonio : Gotta love Michail. Fabulous headed goal and non-stop action 8. Valencia: Never easy against two defensive banks of four but a frustrating display 6.
Mark Noble explained that training ground practice in breaking down a team defending for their lives truly paid off against Villa tonight.
But we work on it in training and you have to find a way. We are not going to make any predictions but anything may be possible. You never know do you. We started well but people started worrying when we drew a few games. It looks good and feels good. The manager declared that after a great start Villa controlled the game until a crazy incident when Ayew threw elbow into the face of Aaron Cresswell and was red carded.
However, you are always nervous until the second goal but when we got it we deserved it. Magnificent Mark Noble picked up a thoroughly deserved man of the match award as the Irons finally shoved Villa out of the way to pick up three more invaluable points.
