'Right place at the right time': Abraham strikes late as Villa edge Sunderland

Aston Villa moved one step closer ​to securing Champions League football with a see-saw 4-3 victory over Sunderland on Sunday after Tammy ‌Abraham snatched a dramatic winner in the 94th minute at Villa Park.

The substitute striker’s late heroics extended fourth-placed Villa’s cushion over sixth-placed Chelsea to 10 points with five games remaining in the race for European football.

Sunderland scored twice in 58 seconds when ​trailing 3-1 to make it 3-3 and nearly won it late before Abraham struck in stoppage ​time with a delicate touch past the keeper to seal the three points.

“I think we ⁠got too relaxed and made a few mistakes and Sunderland punished us, they are a good team,” Abraham ​told Sky Sports.

“As a striker, watching Ollie (Watkins) today, he was staying alive in the box and when I ​came on I told myself to do the same thing. Luckily for me I was in the right place at the right time.

“We are a team that believes in ourselves. We are doing so well this season, we just have to carry on ​with the confidence.”

Villa appeared to be cruising toward victory after Watkins’s two first-half headers and Morgan Rogers struck ​early in the second half to put them 3-1 ahead.

But Sunderland scored twice — in the 86th and 87th minutes — when Trai ‌Hume ⁠and Wilson Isidor capitalised on mistakes Villa made in possession.

Sunderland nearly completed an improbable comeback when Habib Diarra raced through, only to see Emiliano Martinez produce a fantastic save before Villa surged upfield, where Lucas Digne delivered a perfect cross for Abraham to score.

“What a position we are in, semi-final of European competition (Europa League) and pole ​position to qualify for top ​five. We can go ⁠and achieve what not many Aston Villa players have done for a long time,” Villa midfielder John McGinn said.

“When you see the difference of the two points ​big Tammy Abraham has added for us at the end, it’s huge for us. ​We knew how ⁠important this game was. It wasn’t perfect, but who cares at the end of the day?”

Villa boss Unai Emery was ecstatic but conceded they “lost our mind a little bit” when they conceded twice in one minute.

“But how we ⁠reacted at ​3-3 to score the fourth goal was fantastic,” Emery added.

“We started ​this match with many objectives, one of them was to keep fourth, get an advantage on other teams and leave Sunderland further behind ​us.

“We did it, I am so happy with how we played.”