West Bromwich Albion 0-3 Aston Villa: Sam Allardyce's reign starts with defeat

Anwar El Ghazi has four goals from three trips to The Hawthorns, having also scored twice in a 2-2 draw in the Championship in December 2018

Sam Allardyce's reign as West Bromwich Albion manager got off to a miserable start as Aston Villa brushed aside the 10-man Baggies.

Anwar El Ghazi's improvised close-range finish gave Villa an early advantage in a West Midlands derby that was one-sided even before Baggies captain Jake Livermore's red card.

The visitors were utterly dominant once Martin Atkinson consulted his pitchside monitor and decided to dismiss Livermore for a studs-up lunge on Jack Grealish before half-time.

They sealed the points with two goals in the closing stages as Grealish set up Bertrand Traore's cool side-footer and then won the penalty converted by El Ghazi for the Dutchman's second.

Albion might be aggrieved that the VAR did not request Atkinson take a second look when Kortney Hause trod on the ankle of Baggies midfielder Grady Diangana shortly after Livermore's sending-off.

But it was still a night to forget for Allardyce, whose side remain three points from safety in 19th, as he returned to a Premier League dugout for the first time since May 2018.

• Reaction to West Brom v Aston Villa, plus the rest of Sunday's Premier League action

Big Sam's biggest challenge yet?

Much has been made of Allardyce's record of never suffering relegation from the Premier League as a manager but he will already be aware he has an uphill task to maintain that proud statistic.

While his new charges showed the sort of resilience that earned them a point at Manchester City in midweek in Slaven Bilic's final game in charge, they lacked the quality and potency to trouble Villa even before going down to 10 men.

Albion did not collapse after Livermore's ejection like they did following Matheus Pereira's red card in their last home game when Crystal Palace cruised to a 5-1 victory but, in truth, the scoreline could have been even more embarrassing than that.

John McGinn headed a Grealish cross wide, Ollie Watkins saw a sliding finish scrubbed off for offside by VAR and Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone twice superbly denied El Ghazi before the incessant pressure told late on.

With the January transfer window looming, Allardyce will need to bolster a defence that has conceded 29 goals - a tally only surpassed by Leeds - while reinvigorating an attack that has netted just five times in their past 11 games.

They failed to force Emiliano Martinez into a save of note as Allardyce suffered only a second opening-game defeat in a 20-year Premier League managerial career now spanning eight clubs.

The fixture list will not make pleasing reading for the former England manager, whose side face Liverpool, Wolves and Manchester City among their next six as they seek to add to their solitary win this term.

Sam Allardyce had won five of his seven previous opening games in charge of Premier League clubs

Vibrant Villa terrific on travels again

While it will be their shortest trip of the season - just four miles down the road from Villa Park - the impressive victory was still another away win for Dean Smith's men, their fifth in just six attempts.

It's a far cry from their form on their travels last season when they collected just 11 points, a total Villa - who have now kept seven clean sheets in 12 games - have already comfortably surpassed.

Smith's team look transformed from the one that narrowly stayed up on the final day in July and once El Ghazi used the outside of his boot to flick Traore's teasing cross past Johnstone five minutes in, the outcome was rarely in doubt.

The goals had dried up in recent weeks - three in the past four games after netting 18 in their opening seven - but if Traore and Grealish, in particular, continue the type of irresistible display each produced at The Hawthorns, that will be just a blip.

Traore's composed finish, almost passing the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after a surging run, made him Villa's ninth different scorer of the campaign, while the excellent Grealish was again a target for defenders as Semi Ajayi barged into him to give away the spot-kick.

El Ghazi, making only a second start of the season, was equally influential and has clearly developed a liking for Midlands derbies - he also netted twice against the Baggies in the Championship in 2018 and scored the winner at Wolves recently.

Victory lifted Villa back up to ninth, with games in hand on the sides above them, as they seek a first top-half finish since 2010-11 in Gerard Houllier's sole season in charge.

'I don't want to talk about VAR, I have enough problems' - what they said

West Brom boss Allardyce told BBC Sport: "I can praise the players on the pitch for staying in the game, keeping their shape and trying to get one back. We slipped up with a couple of goals. The performance was not very good but at least the 10 men battled away. I'm very disappointed in the sending-off and the first goal.

"Jake Livermore, I have no problems with that [red card] but why did they not look at the Kortney Hause one on Grady Diangana? At least Martin Atkinson should be asked to look at it by VAR. That is wrong. I don't want to talk about VAR, I have enough problems with my own team.

"An easy one next [Liverpool]. We will give it our best shot, no-one expected us to battle against Manchester City and I did not see that tonight, we need to find that."

Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith: "To win three games away from home 3-0 shows we are in a good place. We started really well and our energy levels were there to see - we controlled it from start to finish.

"There were times last season when the opposition went down to 10 men and we tried to force it but we were patient.

"We missed a number of chances to make it 2-0 and the offside call for Ollie Watkins was very marginal. I don't think they had a shot on goal against us all game."

Villa's victories on road go on - the stats

• Aston Villa's return of 22 points after 12 games is their best in the Premier League since the 2001-02 season, when they finished eighth (also 22 points).

• West Brom have only one win or fewer 14 games into a league season for just the third time, after 1985-86 and 2004-05.

• Aston Villa defeated West Brom at The Hawthorns for the first time since September 2008, having drawn five and lost three in all competitions at the venue since then.

• Aston Villa have won five of their last six away matches in the Premier League, as many wins as they had picked up from their previous 49 such matches in the competition.

• In England's top four tiers, only Southend United (-20) have a poorer goal difference than West Brom this season (-19).

• Aston Villa have kept seven clean sheets in the Premier League this season, the most of any side - as many as they kept in the entirety of 2019-20 in the league.

• Since the start of last season, Jake Livermore is the fourth player to receive a Premier League red card for a foul on Jack Grealish (including second yellows).

What's next?

West Bromwich Albion are away to Premier League leaders and holders Liverpool next Sunday (16:30 GMT).

Aston Villa are back in action a day earlier as they host Crystal Palace at Villa Park on Saturday (15:00) in a game being televised live on the BBC.

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