Aston Villa suffered a blow to their hopes of securing a place in the top eight of the Champions League after losing 1-0 away at Monaco.
Wilfried Singo’s header in the eighth minute proved the different at the Stade Louis II as an underwhelming Villa side lost for the second time of their European campaign.
The result leaves Unai Emery’s men clinging onto their top-eight place with the majority of their Champions League rivals still to play on Matchday 7. The Midlands side face Celticat home in their final group game.
Monaco, meanwhile, have climbed up to ninth in the standings as they went level on points with Villa and bolstered their hopes of automatically reaching the last 16.
The visitors enjoyed the better of the early exchanges but it was Monaco who went ahead first when Singo headed in from close range after Emiliano Martinez had initially saved from Breel Embolo’s header.
Aston Villa go behind inside ten minutes 👀
Wilfried Singo is alert to head Emiliano Martínez’s initial save over the line, giving Monaco an early lead!
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 21, 2025
Villa seemed unsettled by goal as they made a number of sloppy misplaced passes, one from Ezri Konsa forcing a strong save from Martinez to thwart Maghnes Alkiouche’s shot.
The visitors settled again and were on top for much of the second half, albeit without carving out too many opportunities. Lucas Digne tried his luck with a free-kick from 25 yard but his well-struck effort was easily gathered.
Leon Bailey was then unfortunate not to level the score from close range after a nice ball from Emiliano Buendia found the Jamaican via a smart Ollie Watkins touch.
The best chance of the half for Villa came at the death when Watkins was fed through by another great Bunedia through ball but the Villa striker’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Radosław Majecki down to his right.
An excellent combination between Emi Buendía and Ollie Watkins, but the Villa striker sees his effort pushed round the post 😫
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 21, 2025
There was then time for Monaco to miss a gilt-etched chance when Alkiouche couldn’t keep his shot down after finding achres of space from close range.
Villa started the second half well as Watkins raced clear down the left before finding Morgan Rogers, who couldn’t quite bend his effort inside the post with the outside of his boot.
Alkiouche then thought he had made it 2-0 after tapping home from close range but the 22-year-old made his run too early and was flagged for offside.
Emery introduced Jhon Duran to play alongside Watkins to try and inspire Villa but it proved in vein, with chances few and far between in the final half hour of the encounter.
Matty Cash was fed through on goal by Rogers but the right-back could only scuff his shot wide.
