Ollie Watkins continued his scorching form as Aston Villa cruised to a 4-1 Europa Conference League victory over AZ Alkmaar.
On Thursday, the striker scored his 10th goal of the season and fourth in Europe.
After less than 25 minutes, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans – his first for Villa – put them in command at AZ Stadium.
Vangelis Pavlidis missed the hosts’ finest chances but Watkins and John McGinn added further goals after the half in Holland before Ibrahim Sadiq claimed a consolation.
It was Villa’s second four-goal game in two days, following their 4-1 Premier League win over West Ham on Sunday.
Unai Emery celebrated a year in command on Tuesday, and victory highlighted the progress his team has made since finishing 14th and three points above the relegation zone a year ago.
Villa play Alkmaar in two weeks, knowing that a win would propel them into the knockout stages, especially after a 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw in September.
After two games in Group E, all four teams were tied on three points, but Villa immediately rectified that, scoring just 13 minutes in.
While Boubacar Kamara’s ball was cut out, Watkins latched on a stray delivery from Yukinari Sugawara and rifled in low from the edge of the box.
Alkmaar claimed handball, but the goal stood, and the hosts were 2-0 down after 10 minutes.
Another bad pass, this time from Sven Mijnans, went right to McGinn, who found Tielemans with an angled pass for his first Villa goal.
However, the hosts should have equalized 90 seconds later when Pavlidis blasted over with only Emi Martinez to beat after Kamara was dispossessed on the edge of the box.
Soon after, Pavlidis’ goal was disallowed for offside, but Villa regrouped and doubled their lead six minutes after the break.
Watkins, Tielemans, and Bailey took apart Arizona, who saw his shot saved by Matt Ryan but fall nicely for Watkins to tap in the rebound.
McGinn added a fourth goal five minutes later, turning in Bailey’s low cross at the near post.
Sadiq equalized with 25 minutes remaining, latching onto Bruno Martins Indi’s crossfield pass and drilling the ball into the corner from the edge of the box.
Tiago Dantas came close to scoring again, but Tielemans deflected his drive behind him, and a comeback was never in the cards.
