John McGinn finds it hilarious after Aston Villa coach is sanctioned
John McGinn has given his reaction after Austin MacPhee was punished for Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
Aston Villa came back from a goal down to beat Chelsea 2-1 on Saturday afternoon thanks to a double from Ollie Watkins off the bench.
Stuart Attwell showed eight yellow cards to players on the two sides as the Villans stayed within touching distance of Arsenal and Man City at the top of the Premier League table.
But it was a booking for set-piece coach MacPhee which amused the Aston Villa captain the most after the game.
Austin MacPhee booked for interfering at Chelsea
With five minutes of added time counting down and Chelsea going in search of a late equaliser the hosts had a throw in down by the benches.
As Reece James was holding a ball ready to throw in Pedro Neto dropped a second ball he’d been attempting to retrieve from the crowd inside the Aston Villa technical area.
McPhee, sitting on a stool in the back corner of the area, then knocked the ball onto the pitch to delay matters causing Moises Caicedo to feign booting it back at him, with the Scottish coach receiving a yellow card as a result.
Following the match his compatriot McGinn posted a clip on his X account of the notification of MacPhee’s booking showing up on the match broadcast with three crying laughter emojis.
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Pundits beginning to believe Aston Villa title charge
MacPhee has been drawing increasing attention at Aston Villa since joining in 2021 and his latest involvement shows the club are working as a unit to mount a genuine title challenge.
After the penultimate fixture of 2025 ended it another three points against a “big six” club observers are finally having to take Unai Emery‘s side seriously.
Alan Shearer has accepted Aston Villa are in a title race and if they follow this up with another win over leaders Arsenal on Tuesday it will be harder to find pundits who don’t believe this outfit are serious contenders.
The blueprint is there after Emi Buendia’s dramatic winner downed Mikel Arteta’s men at the start of the month for the second of six wins from six in December so far – make it seven from seven and fans can dare to dream.
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