The odds were stacked against Young Boys ahead of kick-off, having never won in any of their six visits to England (D2, L4), while Villa had triumphed in all five European games at home in 2025.
The home side got off to a fast start and were relentless going forward as they came close to opening the scoring inside four minutes when Donyell Malen pounced on a loose ball outside the box before his rocket effort was tipped over the bar by Marvin Keller.
Jadon Sancho was next to test the Swiss stopper after he collected the ball from a short corner, turned, and fired at the near corner, but Keller was equal to it.
After initially soaking up the pressure, Young Boys looked like they were growing into the contest.
That was until the 27th minute, when a neat spell of Villa possession culminated with Youri Tielemans clipping the ball into the box for Malen to head home at the near post.
Unai Emery’s men were in the ascendancy and doubled their lead when Morgan Rogers powered through the heart of the visitors before picking out Malen, who drove into the box and rifled the ball past Keller.
Leading for a fifth consecutive home game, Emery’s men picked up right where they left off – dominating proceedings following the restart – as Sancho saw his effort parried away.
Eight minutes after the restart, Malen had the ball in the back of the net for the third time this evening, tapping in from Rogers’ square ball, yet the goal was quickly ruled out for offside.
The Dutch forward was denied the opportunity to net a hat-trick as Emery made a quadruple change on the hour mark, taking the opportunity to rest key players ahead of the weekend fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The home side were firmly in control, with the visitors mustering one off-target shot in 69 minutes of play.
Villa were struggling to put the game out of sight, which opened the door for the visitors when a lapse of concentration allowed substitute Alan Virginius to break through the Villa defence before his low ball was fired in by fellow substitute Chris Bedia.
However, following a lengthy VAR review, the goal was ruled out for a narrow offside.
That moment proved to be the spark that Villa needed to regain their concentration and composure, until the 90th minute when Jöel Monteiro set up a grandstand finish, thumping the ball past Emiliano Martínez to halve the deficit.
In the end, Villa rode out the storm in stoppage time, claiming all three points to lift them into second place, level on points with Midtjylland.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Donyell Malen (Aston Villa)
