Aston Villa 4-3 Sunderland: Last-gasp Abraham header settles Villa Park thriller

Tammy Abraham’s 93rd-minute finish settled a thrilling contest as Aston Villa snatched a 4-3 win over Sunderland, having earlier thrown away a two-goal lead late on.

Abraham flicked Lucas Digne’s cross past Robin Roefs to move Unai Emery’s side 10 points clear of sixth-placed Chelsea and boost their Champions League qualification hopes.

But it should have been far more routine for Villa. Ollie Watkins needed just 98 seconds to open the scoring, nodding home after Matty Cash freed John McGinn to lob a cross towards the far post.

Chris Rigg levelled with nine minutes on the clock, firing emphatically into the left-hand corner for his first Premier League goal after Noah Sadiki touched back Nordi Mukiele’s right-sided delivery.

Amadou Onana headed against the crossbar after Roefs looked nervy when dealing with McGinn’s corner, but Watkins restored Villa’s lead nine minutes before half-time.

Morgan Rogers cutely offloaded for Ian Maatsen to make the byline and fire across the six-yard area for the England striker to head into an empty net.

McGinn’s fight out of possession created Villa’s third in the 46th minute, with the midfielder releasing Ross Barkley before he found Watkins, who teed up Rogers to drive past Roefs with the help of the post.

Trai Hume started the Sunderland comeback with four minutes remaining, picking Jadon Sancho’s pocket before curling into the top-right corner from a tight angle.

And just 58 seconds later, Wilson Isidor levelled after Enzo Le Fee cut open the Villa defence for the French striker to slide past Emiliano Martinez, who then denied Habib Diarra when one-on-one soon after.

Having seen Diarra inexplicably try and dink over Martinez, Villa punished that attempted finish down the other end when Digne delivered from the left for Abraham to get the telling touch and snatch a vital win.

Huge. pic.twitter.com/JDmeA8Pjsh

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 19, 2026

Data Debrief: Wonderful Watkins

Watkins has now scored 10+ goals in all six of his Premier League seasons; only Sadio Mane (eight) has played in more campaigns in the competition’s history and reached double figures for goals in every one.

But his deadly finishing is not his only asset. Rogers and Watkins are the third duo to combine for more than 10 Premier League goals for Villa (11), alongside John Carew and Ashley Young, and Gabriel Agbonlahor and Young (both 14).

Rogers’ strike was also his first goal involvement in the Premier League since scoring against Bournemouth in February, ending his longest run of games in the competition without scoring or assisting (seven).

Yet, Villa still needed some late heroics. Abraham’s winner, assisted by Digne, was the first time Villa have scored a 90th-minute winner in a Premier League game with two substitutes combining to score it.

Although Regis Le Bris will be disappointed by the ending, Villa’s victory may have been deserved after they accumulated 2.67 expected goals (xG) to Sunderland’s 1.76.