A late goal from Andre Ayew consigned Aston Villa to their sixth straight league defeat, and left manager Tim Sherwood hanging onto his job by a thread, as Swansea City won 2-1 at Villa Park.

After the two teams went in goalless at half-time, it was an Ayew who scored the first goal, Villa's Jordan Ayew. However, Gylfi Sigurdsson quickly equalised, before Andre won the battle of the brothers with his late goal.

Team news

Sherwood selected an extremely attacking team, with three strikers in the starting XI. Jordan Ayew, Rudy Gestede and Gabriel Agbonlahor, but there was no place for Carles Gil or Ashley Westwood in the team.

Gary Monk brought Ki Sung Yueng back into the starting 11, in place of Jack Cork, whilst Andre Ayew was moved back out to the wing after a disappointing performance in the middle on Monday night.

First half lacks excitement and goals

In a first half devoid of quality, it was Villa who held the attacking territory, but Swansea who gained the best chances early on.

Back into the team himself, Glyfi Sigurdsson curled an effort wide from the edge of the box, following Jonjo Shelvey nicking the ball in midfield.

An even better chance was to go amiss soon after though. Batefimbi Gomis got on the end of a corner, planting a lovely header back across the six yard box, with the goal gaping for Federico Fernandez. The Argentine swung his right boot at it, but blazed over the bar.

Rudy Gestede smacked a half chance wide at the other end, after using his superior strength to outmuscle Fernandez, before a flurry of yellow cards resulted from some handbags in the area.

Kyle Naughton went into the book following a late challenge on Jack Grealish. That was routine, and play moved on with the resulting free-kick. Leandro Bacuna swung a ball into the box, which was claimed by Lukas Fabianski, but not before some pushing and shoving between Micah Richards and Ashley Williams, which earned the two captain's a yellow card.

There was time for one more chance before the half-time whistle blew, as Gestede fizzed a header over the bar from Bacuna's corner.

Second 45 starts at a quicker tempo

It was in the second 45, where the game really got going, with a frantic start seeing Villa dominate. Agbonlahor struck wide after good link up play with Grealish, before all the forwards failed to get on the end of an inviting Bacuna cross.

However, Swansea wrestled the momentum back, and looked like scoring. Shelvey put Gomis in on goal with an excellent through ball, only for the Frenchman to strike wide, before the game took a turn.

With the Swans attacking, Gomis again collected the ball from Shelvey, but passed this time, setting up Andre Ayew. He looked destined to score, but was kept out thanks to some superb goalkeeping from Brad Guzan, which allowed Villa to counter attack.

Ayew puts Villans ahead, but it's quickly cancelled out

It was from this counter attack that they profited, scoring the games first goal. None other than Andre's brother, Jordan Ayew, scored the goal, heading in from Agbonlahor's cross. 

The lead didn't last long though, with Gylfi Sigurdsson making it 1-1 minutes later. A lack of discipline from Richards saw him drag the Icelander down around 25 yards out, and he made the Villa captain pay, by curling in a wonderful free-kick. 

That goal left Villa dejected, and they never looked like recovering their lead from there on in. Swansea took advantage, applying pressure, especially thanks to smart decisions from Gary Monk, who took advantage of Barrow's pace by bringing him on against Richardson.

It looked as if Shelvey would be the one to get the winner, as he danced past two men with five minutes left, only to blaze over on his left foot from the edge of the area. The honour though, did go to an Ayew brother, but not one Tim Sherwood wanted.

Late drama as another Ayew scores

Failing to track Kyle Naughton's run down the right hand side, Villa allowed the full-back room to put in a perfect cross, which was stabbed home by Ayew.

The hosts did get one chance to make it 2-2, in the last minute of normal time, but Joleon Lescott blazed a volley over from Bacuna's outswinging delivery.

It wasn't their day, and it hasn't been their season so far. Another nail in the coffin for Sherwood as the referee blew for time, and possibly the final one.

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