Late strike from Tammy Abraham secures Aston Villa victory over Sunderland

By Sunny Badwal, Press Association

Tammy Abraham scored a stoppage-time winner as Aston Villa took a huge step to securing Champions League football next season with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Sunderland at Villa Park.

After Chelsea were beaten by Manchester United on Saturday, Villa moved 10 points clear in the top five qualifying places, but almost threw away a two-goal lead in doing so.

Ollie Watkins continued his rich vein of form with a pair of goals either side of 18-year-old Chris Rigg’s equaliser for Sunderland, which will further help his case for a spot in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans this summer.

What a finale at Villa Park 😱 pic.twitter.com/t7HLCzeISS

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 19, 2026

Watkins was left out of Tuchel’s squad for England’s matches back in March but few would now ignore his contribution over the last month after scoring six goals from his last five games.

Villa made a lightning start to the second period too, and Morgan Rogers ended a run of seven Premier League matches without a goal by putting his name on the scoresheet to double Villa’s advantage.

However, drama ensued at Villa Park as Sunderland got themselves on level terms out of nowhere with late goals from Trai Hume and Wilson Isidor which were separated by just 58 seconds, before substitute Abraham jumped off the bench to save the day.

Sunderland missed the chance to climb as high as sixth while Villa put one foot inside Europe’s top club competition next season.