Norwich City have been relegated from the Premier League.
Defeat at Villa Park coupled with Burnley's come-from-behind 2-1 win at Watford ensured a swift return to the Championship for the Canaries.
A first-half goal by Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings's strike in injury time settled the issue in the Midlands in a game of few chances and little real quality.
As news filtered through to the travelling fans they launched into a burst of "I'm City Till I Die" - with the players unaware of what was happening at Vicarage Road.
Aston Villa
(4-3-2-1)
Subs:
25 Olsen
4 Konsa
6 Luiz (for Iroegbunam 73)
10 Buendia (for Coutinho 76)
15 Traore
18 Young
19 Nakamba
20 Ings (for Bailey 40)
33 Chukwuuemeka
Manager: Steven Gerrard
- Bookings: Chambers (foul on Rashica, 44); Iroegbunam (foul on Lees-Melou 61); Cash (foul on Williams 65); Ramsey (foul on Gilmour 67)
Norwich City
(4-2-3-1)
Subs:
28 Gunn
4 Gibson
7 Rupp (for Sargent 81)
8 Gilmour
11 Placheta
18 Tzolis
19 Sorensen
24 Sargent (for Lees-Melou 67)
30 Giannoulis
46 Rowe (for Rashica 77)
Head coach: Dean Smith
Bookings: Aarons (foul on Coutinho, 23)
Added on time: 4 mins/5 mins
- Venue: Villa Park
- Referee: John Brooks
- VAR: Lee Mason
KEY MOMENTS
6 - Lucas Digne corner from the Villa right, her swings it in and Ollie Watkins clips it over the bar.
15 - Best City move so far - Grant Hanley up to Kieran Dowell who sets Max Aarons free down the right. Aaron moves inside, finds Pierre Lees-Melou and with the goal in his sights he hurries his shot from 20 yards and skews the ball wide of the left post.
17 - Matty Cash heads straight at Tim Krul.
19: CHANCE VILLA. Krul does well to tip Leon Bailey's shot from the edge of the box on to the woodwork.
27 - CHANCE CITY. Milot Rashica with a great right-footer from 20 yards which is superbly tipped over by Emi Martinez.
32 - Grasscutter from long range by Brandon Williams - easy save for Martinez.
40 - GOAL VILLA (WATKINS). Ball straight down the middle from left, Williams slips on the edge of the area and Watkins shoots across Krul into the top left.
45: Williams head over - and gets a boot in the face as well.
HALF-TIME: ASTON VILLA 1-0 NORWICH CITY
52: Byram gets a foot in to deny Danny Ings from close range. Then Ings heads against the post from the corner.
57 - Nice work in the area by Lees-Melou, but Martinez gets down to comfortably stop his left-foot effort.
90 - Good break by Emi Buendia but he fires wide of the right post.
90 - GOAL VILLA (INGS): The Villa striker turns and sweeps the ball home from 12 yards
FULL TIME: ASTON VILLA 2-0 NORWICH CITY
SNAP RATINGS:
Krul 7; Aarons 6, Byram 7, Hanley 7, Williams 7, Normann 6, Gilmour 6, Lees-Melou 6, Dowell 6, Rashica 6, Pukki 6.Subs: Sargent 6, Rowe 6, Rupp (N/A)
MATCH STATS:
(Aston Villa – Norwich City)
Possession: 46% - 54%
Shots: 21 - 9
Shots on Target: 6 - 3
Corners: 2 - 3
Fouls: 16 - 8
Att: 40,299
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