Tammy Abraham scored twice at the CBS Arena on Wednesday as Aston Villa beat Coventry City 3-1 to reach the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. Unai Emery was willing to let him go in the summer. That is the context for both finishes.
Abraham turned down loan moves to Ipswich and Everton during the window and stayed to fight for his place. Emery then told him publicly he needed to produce more. Villa had also just spent 65m on Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea, which is not a signal a striker can miss.
Seven minutes in
Abraham had scored once in his previous 16 appearances, back in April, and three times in 21 games for Villa since joining in January. He got the opener after seven minutes, one of seven changes Emery made from the weekend defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Coventry hit back through Victor Torp, who found the top corner from 25 yards with a free-kick. It was their first home goal of the season. For a while afterwards the Sky Blues pressed and Gustavo Hamer went close from range.
Then the defending fell apart again
Ross Barkley glanced in a corner before the break, completely unmarked. Just before the hour Abraham shrugged off debutant Stephen Mfuni and tapped in John McGinn's corner for the third. McGinn had gone close himself earlier.
Coventry have now conceded 15 goals in all competitions this season and lost five of their opening six games. This came four days after a 5-0 home defeat by Brighton. Frank Lampard's side scored, which is progress of a sort, but the soft centre is the story.
Where both sides go next
Villa needed this. Three defeats in their opening four Premier League matches left Emery under real scrutiny, and while a cup tie at a struggling Championship side proves little, momentum has to start somewhere. They travel to Bournemouth in round four, in the week commencing 26 October.
For Abraham, the point was made in the simplest way available to a striker. Two goals, both calm finishes, from a player his manager had been ready to move on.
Source: BBC Sport
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