Aston Villa Vs Sunderland: Player Ratings

Vito Mannone - 7

Very dependable. Has a lovely knack of just waving a shot away that instils a sense of calm.

Phil Bardsley - 7

Did his bit for the clean sheet. Fair play.

John O'Shea - 7

Steady and assured. The John O'Shea we'd like to see much more often.

Wes Brown - 8

The stand-out player - again.

Andrea Dossena -7

Tired a lot around the hour mark, but contributed plenty to the clean sheet.

Ki Sung-Yueng - 7

His passing was slightly off compared to usual, though he was still the pick of the midfield and only one of the trio who should feel secure in his position.

Craig Gardner - 3

How can we put this in its kindest terms? Well, Vito Mannone completed twice as many passes as Gardner did...

Seb Larsson - 6

Huffed, puffed, and pointed. Typical Seb performance really.

Emanuele Giaccherini - 7

Without the big miss, he'd have probably got our man of the match award. There was a real swagger about him today that we haven't seen before, especially away from home.

Fabio Borini - 6

Hit the bar and was generally busy. Nice to see him get a proper chance and thought he did enough to merit another.

Steven Fletcher - 6

Some lovely touches in the build-up play and won plenty of headers. Signs of him returning to something resembling his best.

Jack Colback - 5

Didn't deserve to be dropped and produced a mature display from the bench.

Adam Johnson - 4

If we hadn't have seen him come on, I doubt anyone would have noticed him at all.

Ondrej Celustka - 5

Did what was required.

Man Of The Match: Wes Brown

This was a performance that proved how important it was to successfully appeal that stupid red card last week. Brown produced another top class display at the back, winning just about everything and supplying the ball into midfield with real efficiency.

More match reaction follows in the coming days right HERE in our stream, so check it out won't you?