Championship Play-Off Final - Aston Villa 2-1 Derby County - Villans back in PL after three-year absence

Aston Villa scored twice before Derby County's late consolation to win promotion back to the Premier League with victory in the Championship play-off final.

Photo from BBC Sport

Anwar El Ghazi scored the opener after a cagey first half, coming in unsighted on Jayden Bogle and somehow getting enough contact to divert the cross goalwards.
Kelle Roos in the Derby net then misjudged the flight of a deflected El Ghazi shot and John McGinn gambled on a mistake from the keeper to convert.
Frank Lampard's substitution paid off when Jack Marriott came off the bench to set up Martyn Waghorn to get the Rams back in the tie.
However, the Rams boss threw caution to the wind and his side set up a frantic finale when substitute Jack Marriott's effort from eight yards took a deflection off Martyn Waghorn on its way in.

Villa had looked well out of the race for promotion as late as mid-March, before a club-record 10-match winning run meant they finished in fifth place.
Victory at the national stadium brings a successful end to what has been at times tumultuous year for them.
Chinese owner Tony Xia sold the club to billionaire businessmen Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris last July, after to losing to Fulham in last year's final.
Steve Bruce remained at the helm until October, before the 58-year-old was replaced with then Brentford manager Dean Smith.

Photo from BBC Sport

Jack Grealish was injured at the start of December, showing his importance to the side when a poor run of form left them eight points off the play-offs at the end of February.
Grealish returned to the side and was made captain - as he was today - for the home game against Derby on 1 March.
The fourth goal that the 23-year-old scored that day sparked the 10-match winning run to qualify for the play-offs with two games to spare.
It proved to be a much closer finish this time, but Villa managed to hang on to claim promotion back to the top flight.

Final Championship Standings

#	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	Norwich City	46	27	13	6	93	57	+36	94
P	Sheffield United	46	26	11	9	78	41	+37	89
3	Leeds United	46	25	8	13	73	50	+23	83
4	West Bromwich Albion	46	23	11	12	87	62	+25	80
P	Aston Villa	46	20	16	10	82	61	+21	76
6	Derby County	46	20	14	12	69	54	+15	74
7	Middlesbrough	46	20	13	13	49	41	+8	73
8	Bristol City	46	19	13	14	59	53	+6	70
9	Nottingham Forest	46	17	15	14	61	54	+7	66
10	Swansea City	46	18	11	17	65	62	+3	65
11	Brentford*	46	17	13	16	73	59	+14	64
12	Sheffield Wednesday	46	16	16	14	60	62	-2	64
13	Hull City	46	17	11	18	66	68	-2	62
14	Preston North End	46	16	13	17	67	67	0	61
15	Blackburn Rovers	46	16	12	18	64	69	-5	60
16	Stoke City	46	11	22	13	45	52	-7	55
17	Birmingham City**	46	14	19	13	64	58	+6	52
18	Wigan Athletic	46	13	13	20	51	64	-13	52
19	QPR	46	14	9	23	53	71	-18	51
20	Reading	46	10	17	19	49	66	-17	47
21	Millwall	46	10	14	22	48	64	-16	44
R	Rotherham United	46	8	16	22	52	83	-31	40
R	Bolton Wanderers	46	8	8	30	29	78	-49	32
R	Ipswich Town	46	5	16	25	36	77	-41	31

Play-Offs
Semi-Finals
Leeds United 1-0 2-4 (3-4 agg) Derby County
West Bromwich Albion 1-2 1-0 (1-0 AET) (2-2 agg) 3-4p Aston Villa

Final
Aston Villa 2-1 Derby County

Tie-breakers:
1) Points
2) Goal difference
3) Number of goals scored
4) Head-to-head results

*Brentford were awarded a 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers due to Bolton's inability to hold the fixture.
**Birmingham City were deducted 9 points for failure to comply with the EFL profitability and sustainability rule.

Championship Stats
Most goals
Player, Team: Goals (Penalties)
Teemu Pukki, Norwich City: 29 (0)
Neal Maupay, Brentford: 25 (3)
Tammy Abraham, Aston Villa: 25 (5)
Dwight Gayle, West Bromwich Albion: 23 (0)
Billy Sharp, Sheffield United: 23 (1)
Che Adams, Birmingham City: 22 (1)
Oliver McBurnie, Swansea City: 22 (3)
Jarrod Bowen, Hull City: 22 (4)
Jay Rodriguez, West Bromwich Albion: 22 (8)
Lewis Grabban, Nottingham Forest: 16 (3)

Most assists
Player, Team: Assists
Said Benrahma, Brentford: 14
Kamil Grosicki, Hull City: 12
Pablo Hernandez, Leeds United: 12
Barry Bannan, Sheffield Wednesday: 11
Emi, Norwich City: 11
Conor Hourihane, Aston Villa: 11
Joe Lolley, Nottingham Forest: 11
John Fleck, Sheffield United: 10
Jota, Birmingham City: 10
Lukas Jutkiewicz, Birmingham City: 10

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