The England manager was at the Championship game, reportedly to watch Jack Grealish and Tammy Abraham.
Aston Villa have moved up to fifth in the Championship table following their fifth league win in a row, beating Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in Saturday’s encounter at Villa Park.
The hosts were bright from the off and broke the deadlock after just eight minutes played as John McGinn and Anwar El Ghazi combined to put the ball on a plate for Tammy Abraham to tap home his 22nd of the season.
Dean Smith’s charges then doubled their lead just after the hour as the increasingly impressive Tyrone Mings headed home his second goal at the Holte End following another great McGinn contribution, this time a looping cross.
Blackburn pulled one back in the 74th minute as Jed Steer could not hang on to Charlie Mulgrew’s free kick, parrying it into the path of Amari’i Bell’s path for a straightforward close-range finish, but Dean Smith’s side saw out the game to move up to fifth in the table on 60 points.
With momentum firmly Villa’s way, hopes of a playoff finish are increasing, and even the prospect of a top-two finish cannot be ruled out completely, with EFL pundit Dean Ashton claiming earlier this week that they have “every chance” of finishing in the automatics – providing Jack Grealish stays fit.
Here are some of the key photos from another exhilarating matchday for the claret and blue faithful, including the presence of England manager Gareth Southgate in the stands, rumoured to be keeping tabs on Grealish and Abraham:
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