Aston Villa spank Sunderland to switch relegation momentum

Tim Sherwood was much happier on Saturday

Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor both bagged a brace as Aston Villa routed Sunderland 4-0 at the Stadium of Light.

Following back-to-back wins over West Bromwich Albion, in the Premier League and FA Cup, Villa arrived at the Stadium of Light full of confidence and with a real spring in their step.

Meanwhile, Sunderland appeared to be in disarray both on and off the field with a wretched run of form made even worse by Adam Johnson's absence that arguably leaves them without their best player.

Momentum seemed to be with the Villans ahead of this relegation six-pointer on Wearside and so it proved in a scarcely believable first half that ended with Aston Villa doubling their away goals total for the season in just 45 minutes.

Tim Sherwood appears to have encouraged his players to look for Benteke much earlier than they had been under Paul Lambert and the tactic paid dividends early on as they kept the Black Cats under pressure.

The opening goal arrived after just 16 minutes and it had been coming. Tom Cleverley released Leandro Bacuna with a superb first-time pass in behind Patrick van Aanholt and he drove into the penalty before sliding across for Benteke to place home from 12 yards.

Falling behind appeared to scramble the minds of the Sunderland players and fans and the advantage was doubled in bizarre circumstances just two minutes later.

A hopeful ball forward from Brad Guzan was inexplicably left by John O'Shea and Agbonlahor was on to it in a flash to poke the ball under the on-rushing Costil Pantilimon and into the net from a tight angle. With just 18 minutes on the clock it looked a long way back for beleaguered Sunderland and the home fans were finding it hard to get behind their side.

Things continued to get worse for the hosts and they were incredibly fortunate not to be 3-0 down on the half-hour mark as Scott Sinclair contrived to fire over from six yards after another storming run from Bacuna.

However, they didn't have to wait much longer to stretch their lead and send the home fans into revolt. On 37 minutes, Agbonlahor was able to collect the ball just inside the Sunderland half and jog unattended all the way into the penalty area before slaloming between two tame challenges to place a left-footed finish into the corner.

With their side 3-0 down, and showing no signs of the fighting spirit required to get back into the game, the home fans voted with their feet. Some fled from the ground immediately, others made their way towards the home bench and threw scarves and season tickets in protest.

It is fair to say that the atmosphere turned even more hostile on the stroke of half-time as Benteke jumped above his marker to head home a looping Bacuna cross from 12 yards to make it 4-0.

Gus Poyet and his side were booed off at the break and jeered back on to the field before the start of the second period. It perhaps summed up their day that they would resume the second half with 10 men, apparently without the manager's knowledge, as Seb Larsson had stitches in an ankle wound before emerging from the tunnel with three minutes of the second half played.

Although Villa would not add further embarrassment with more goals in the second half, it was perhaps more to do with the visitors taking their foot off the gas than the hosts improving a great deal. There were two chances for Connor Wickham late in the game but both times the young striker fired over difficult half-volleys.

The victory lifts Sherwood's Villa above Sunderland and the Villans are now six points clear of the drop zone. Even more crucially, they appear to have late-season momentum on their side.

The same cannot be said for Sunderland and the poisonous atmosphere inside the Stadium of Light will not help them.