Norwich City have been dropped from the Premier League after a 2-0 loss against Aston Villa, with Danny Ings scoring and assisting. With Burnley’s 2-1 win against Watford, Dean Smith’s side fell against his former club, relegating the Canaries to the Championship. With nearly his first touch, Ings found Watkins with a searching pass from the left, and his fellow forward profited on a slip by Brandon Williams to put Villa ahead after 41 minutes. With a quick turn and shot in the dying minutes of the contest, Ings doubled Villa’s lead.
Two minutes after Watkins’ goal, Norwich missed a good opportunity to equalize when Williams headed over after Grant Hanley glanced a Norwich freekick back across the area. Bailey, who went off hurt soon before halftime, nearly put Villa ahead with 20 minutes left on the clock, but Tim Krul’s outstretched hand touched his snapshot from just beyond the area onto the crossbar.
After the restart, Villa’s offensive trio of Ings, Watkins, and Philippe Coutinho tore at Norwich, with Ings coming close to increasing the lead only to have his attempted chip deflected behind for a corner, which he subsequently headed against the bar.
Norwich ran out of steam as the game progressed, and by the end, they could scarcely move out of their half as Villa poured on the pressure, with Ings putting the icing on the cake deep into stoppage time. Villa climbed up to 13th place with 40 points after their first win in six games, while Norwich remain in last place with 21 points. Norwich knew it would be a long shot to stay in England’s top division going into today’s match, but the result confirmed their fate, and they will play in the Championship next season.
