Bristol City vs Aston Villa. Carabao Cup Round 3.
Ashton Gate.
Report and free highlights as Ollie Watkins also on target in Carabao Cup win, setting up a fourth round tie with Stoke
Friday 25 September 2020 05:57, UK
Bertrand Traore made a scoring start to his Aston Villa career in a 3-0 Carabao Cup win at Bristol City.
Traore, signed from Lyon for £17m, opened his Villa account after 14 minutes of his debut with Anwar El Ghazi and substitute Ollie Watkins also on target.
Villa had a stress-free night after El Ghazi struck in the 11th minute and Traore quickly doubled the advantage with a delicious volley.
Watkins, on as a 70th-minute substitute for Traore, scored his second goal in this season's competition within three minutes of his arrival as Dean Smith's side set up a fourth-round home tie against Stoke.
This was a meeting between two teams who had been perfect during the opening weeks of the season.
Championship high-flyers City had recorded four straight wins in league and cup, while Villa had matched that 100 per cent return with victories over Burton, in the Carabao Cup, and Sheffield United in their Premier League opener.
Smith named a completely different line-up to the one that had beaten the Blades on Monday, with John McGinn, Tyrone Mings and Watkins among those benched and no place in the matchday squad at all for Jack Grealish.
Traore started as expected and the former Chelsea striker lined up on the right side of a three-man attack with El Ghazi and Keinan Davis.
Despite the 11 changes, there was nothing disjointed about Villa's start with Max O'Leary producing a fine double stop to deny Davis and Frederic Guilbert.
The pressure was rewarded after 11 minutes when Davis reached the byline and calmly rolled the ball into the path of El Ghazi, who finished with an assured tap-in.
The lead was doubled when Traore superbly cushioned Jacob Ramsey's pass into the top corner with a minimum of fuss.
City were shell-shocked and continued to toil, but Dean Holden's side should have halved the deficit on the half-hour mark.
Niclas Eliasson's cross found Famara Diedhiou unmarked eight yards out, but the Senegal striker planted his header wide of Jed Steer's right-hand post.
It was a rare moment of respite for the hosts and Villa had strong claims for a penalty turned down after 35 minutes.
El Ghazi raced onto Kortney Hause's pass and squared to set up Ramsey six yards out for what would have been the teenager's first senior goal.
But Ramsey fell under contact from Zak Vyner and, much to Villa's disbelief, referee James Linington waved play on.
City showed more endeavour in the second half but struggled to fashion opportunities against a defence marshalled by captain-for-the-night Ahmed Elmohamady and where Hause caught the eye.
The tie was put beyond doubt when Villa sliced through a tiring home midfield and Mahmoud Trezeguet delivered a low cross which Watkins steered home at the far post.
Bristol City manager Dean Holden said: "I thought we gave ourselves a mountain to climb with those two goals in the first 15 minutes.
"We had a big chance at 2-0 and if that goes in who knows? These are the fine margins in these type of games. We went toe-to-toe with a Premier League team and let a third goal in on the counter-attack.
"My full focus now is on Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday and I'm not going to get too down with this."
Aston Villa assistant manager John Terry said: "It was important for him [Traore] to get off to a great start. We saw that with Emi [Martinez] save a penalty on the weekend and he [Traore] is someone who hasn't played in a while as well. So to get the goal and top it off was good.
"He was someone at Chelsea who was very hungry. He went away from the Premier League but he's always had that desire to come back and prove himself. He's got that opportunity now at Aston Villa and personally and professionally we're delighted to have him.
"It was a very good performance to get the win and to go through to the next round is very important."
Aston Villa travel to Fulham on Monday Night Football at 5.45pm - live on Sky Sports Premier League - while Bristol City host Sheffield Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship on Sunday at 1pm.
