Norwich City 2-0 Aston Villa

Two first half goals from Grant Holt and Simeon Jackson gave Norwich a comfortable win over a lacklustre Aston Villa outfit.

Norwich took the lead in the ninth minute when an excellent cross from Bradley Johnson flat-footed the Villa back line, allowing Holt to nudge the ball over the line from six yards.
Villa's defending was poor throughout and they gifted Norwich their second in the 21st minute. Holt pulled the centre-halves towards him, creating space to allow Jackson to latch onto a long ball and bury it past Shay Given in the Villa goal.
In truth, Given kept the scoreline respectable for Villa, making numerous saves from Norwich's lively frontline. Wes Hoolahan in particular was pulling the strings for the Canaries, being at the heart of most of their positive play.
Villa offered little going forward, a Gabriel Agbonlahor shot cannoning off the post in the 71st minute being the closest they came to scoring.
The game offered a snapshot of the differing fortunes of the two sides this campaign. Norwich's attractive attacking football has allowed them to survive comfortably in their first season in the top flight but Villa fans will be worried for the future. Narrowly avoiding relegation this time around, without significant investment over the summer, the 2012-13 campaign could be very grim on this evidence.