Aston Villa gained promotion into the English Premier League after 3 years of absence with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Derby County at Wembley Stadium on Monday evening, and are rewarded with the biggest prize money in football, estimating £170M, paid by instalments over 2-3 seasons even if Villa got relegated immediately after just a season, as in the case of Fulham.
Both Aston Villa and Derby County qualified for the playoffs after finishing the Sky Bet Championship Season in 5th and 6th spot respectively on the log table. They both secured the playoffs final having gotten through a 2-leg semifinal ties, Villa overcoming her West Midland rival, West Brom 4-3 on penalty shootout having played out a 2-2 aggregate scoreline and Derby went past familiar foes Leeds United at the 4th time of asking, 4-3 the aggregate scoreline(Derby lost both league fixtures to Leeds and the 1st leg playoff tie).
Derby Manager, Frank Lampard gave the opposition assistant Manager and ex-teammate, John Terry warm greetings at the dugout, but that friendship was put on hold for the duration of the match as promotion is prioritized.
Most odds favoured Aston Villa of about 2.25 to win, compared to 3.38 of a Derby win, and it's understandable, Villa completed a league double over Derby, Scoring a total of 7 goals and conceded none(4-0,3-0). However, football is not played on a piece of paper but on the field of play, and Derby showed it against Leeds United, pulling a win against the odds. Would they pull another upset again? Not on Dean Smith's watch, as Villa emerged victorious for the 3rd time this season.
A goal in either half was enough for Villa to defeat Derby 2-1 and returned to the EPL after 3 years of absence. Villa's opening goal came just before the half-time whistle, Ahmed Elmohamady sent in a delightful cross which was turned in by Anwar El-Ghazi in off his shoulders in the 44th minute.
Aston Villa double their advantage shortly after the restart just before the hour mark(59 min), an El-Ghazi's deflected shot was not properly gathered by Derby goalkeeper, Telle Roos, as he spilt the ball into the path of Villa's John McGinn who nodded into an empty net. As expected, Derby won't stay down without a fight, they missed 2 glaring opportunities to get back into the match, Jayden Bogle side netted and Mason Mount fired narrowly wide in quick succession. They got a goal back though, in the 81st minute through substitute, Jack Marriott, who fired into the bottom corner after a Jayden Bogle knockdown, but it was too little, too late for Derby to complete a comeback, as Villa ran away with a 2-1 victory.
Heartbreak for Derby County and the manager, Frank Lampard who has done pretty well in his first season as a full manager. Derby's long wait for EPL promotion now stretched into 11 years, having been relegated in the 2007-08 season. Aston Villa, on the other hand, are 2nd-time lucky, having lost in the playoffs final last season to Fulham.
Congratulations to all Aston Villa fans, while I commiserate with Derby fans, better luck next season.
Thank you all for your time.
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