Muntari magic rocks Villa

Sulley Muntari starred for Portsmouth as they extended their unbeaten run with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa.

Pompey secure sixth consecutive win on the road

Sulley Muntari starred for Portsmouth as they extended their unbeaten run to 11 games with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa. Torrential rain and a swirling wind contributed to a scrappy first half, but Aston Villa could not take their chances and Portsmouth established a 2-0 lead thanks to Craig Gardner's own goal and Sulley Muntari's stunning strike from distance. Muntari surpassed himself in the 61st minute with a spectacular solo goal to put Pompey in complete control, but Gareth Barry quickly pulled one back for Villa from the penalty spot. Villa piled forward in pursuit of an unlikely comeback but Portsmouth held on for their sixth consecutive away win to move up to fifth in the Premier League.

First blood to Pompey

Villa had been the first to settle and Ashley Young curled a first-time effort just wide from the edge of the box after good play by Gardner. But after eight minutes poor defending by Villa gifted the visitors the opener through a Gardner own goal. Niko Kranjcar had a shot deflected over the bar by Olof Mellberg and the Croatian international took the corner himself and picked out Pedro Mendes on the edge of the box. He did not appear to make a proper contact on his low ball into the danger area but Wilfred Bouma sliced his attempted clearance across the goal and Gardner, in attempting to deny Benjani, could only turn the ball past Scott Carson. Villa tried to retaliate and had appeals for a penalty rejected by Riley after a challenge on Gabriel Agbonlahor by Sol Campbell. Laursen squandered an even better opportunity after Young swung a curling free-kick into the box and he was unmarked when he headed wide from eight yards out. Villa were now pressing hard for an equaliser and James was alert to block a shot from a narrow angle by Agbonlahor. Campbell did well to block a shot on the turn from Carew before a stunning strike from Muntari doubled Portsmouth's lead after 39 minutes. Glen Johnson rolled the ball into his path some 20 yards out and he hammered an unstoppable rising drive past Carson into the roof of the net.

Superb save

James ensured Pompey maintained their two-goal advantage by producing a superb save to turn over Agbonlahor's shot on the turn. Martin O'Neill made his first substitution early in the second period in bringing on Patrik Berger for Bouma and switching Barry to left-back. But Kranjcar was only inches wide with a shot on the turn after finding space on the edge of the Villa box. Villa tried to retaliate and Carew's glancing header flew just past the far post from a Young centre. But after an hour Muntari scored another superb goal to put Portsmouth 3-0 ahead. He dispossessed Reo-Coker in midfield and then surged forward before curling a left-footed drive past the despairing dive of Carson. Berger was yellow-carded for a late lunge on Johnson. Barry pulled one back from the penalty spot for the home side after Distin was adjudged to have brought down Young but it was too little, too late for the home side.

Aston Villa	Team Statistics	Portsmouth
1	Goals	3
0	1st Half Goals	2
6	Shots on Target	3
11	Shots off Target	6
2	Blocked Shots	6
8	Corners	5
19	Fouls	26
3	Offsides	2
2	Yellow Cards	5
0	Red Cards	0
66.7	Passing Success	75.2
34	Tackles	20
67.6	Tackles Success	80
50.2	Possession	49.8
52.7	Territorial Advantage	47.3