Tammy Abraham opened the scoring<\/a>, before Victor Torp bent in a stunning free-kick later in the first half. But Villa went into the break in the lead when Ross Barkley headed in Ibrahim Mbaye\u2019s corner in the 40th minute.<\/p>\nAbraham then bagged his brace on the hour mark to take the tie away from the Sky Blues.<\/p>\n
It took just seven minutes for Villa to open the scoring, with George Hemmings rolling the ball into Abraham\u2019s stride with the outside of his boot before the striker finished past Dan Bentley.<\/p>\n
Matteo Ruggeri\u2019s goal-bound effort on his full debut was blocked inside the box in the 17th minute, before Coventry got back on level terms through Torp\u2019s set-piece, which came after Barkley was penalised for a foul outside the box.<\/p>\n
Barkley made amends by scoring from the corner he had won, with Bentley tipping his first effort around the post before the midfielder headed in Mbaye\u2019s delivery.<\/p>\n
Unai Emery made seven changes to his starting XI and was forced into another alteration at half-time, with goalkeeper Marco Bizot dealing with discomfort and being replaced by Zion Suzuki.<\/p>\n
Before Emery sent on Johan Manzambi and Emi Buendia, Abraham added a third for Villa by turning in from close range as Villa scored from another set-piece, this time taken by McGinn.<\/p>\n
Villa will now turn their attention back to Premier League duties, as they target a first league win of the season at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.<\/p>\n
![\"Aston](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.birminghammail.co.uk\/article34628547.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200e\/0_Aston-Villas-George-Hemmings-centre-battles-for-the-ball-with-Coventry-Citys-Caleb-Yirenkyi-left-and-Joel-Latibeaudiere.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Aston Villa’s George Hemmings<\/p>\n
Player ratings<\/p>\n
Marco Bizot<\/p>\n
There was nothing Bizot could do to stop Torp\u2019s free-kick from bending in. The \u2018keeper was replaced at half-time after suffering an injury in the first period. 6<\/p>\n
Aaron Wan-Bissaka<\/p>\n
Wan-Bissaka was a little loose at times in possession and was booked shortly before half-time for getting involved with Hamer after blocking the midfielder from taking a quick free-kick. 6<\/p>\n
Taylor Harwood-Bellis<\/p>\n
Eager to impress on his debut, Harwood-Bellis was solid alongside Tyrone Mings. After seeing his header saved by Bentley at one end, he managed to get back into shape at the other, stopping Coventry\u2019s progress outside the box. He then made two important blocks around the half-hour mark. 7<\/p>\n
Tyrone Mings<\/p>\n
Mings was too casual when trying to flick the ball to Ruggeri in the 30th minute while playing out from the back. It would have gone unpunished had Bogarde not cleared the danger. 6<\/p>\n
Matteo Ruggeri<\/p>\n
Ruggeri created Villa\u2019s first chance, crossing into the box early on, but McGinn couldn\u2019t quite get there. He was unlucky not to double Villa\u2019s lead in the 17th minute when his shot was blocked. 7<\/p>\n
Lamare Bogarde<\/p>\n
Bogarde made a sloppy attempt at a clearance in the first half, allowing Torp to take aim and narrowly miss the far post from the edge of the box. He did clear the ball and spare Mings\u2019 blushes later in the first period by knocking it out for a corner. 6<\/p>\n
Ross Barkley<\/p>\n
After nearly giving the ball away in a dangerous position earlier in the first half, Barkley was penalised for a foul after losing possession just outside the box in the 26th minute. Torp then equalised from the resulting free-kick. Barkley restored Villa\u2019s lead by heading past Bentley at the front post, having won the set-piece himself and called the \u2018keeper into action just beforehand. 6<\/p>\n
Ibrahim Mbaye<\/p>\n
Mbaye played off the right wing today and looked confident when he received possession. He stretched the Coventry defence constantly, with his runs causing problems for the opposition every time. He had a low drive saved in the 37th minute and grabbed an assist for Barkley\u2019s goal. Very encouraging performance from the 18-year-old. 8<\/p>\n
John McGinn<\/p>\n
McGinn should have scored in the 34th minute but dragged his effort wide of the front post. He crossed for Harwood-Bellis earlier in the first half and drove Villa up the pitch on a number of occasions. His in-swinging corner led to Abraham\u2019s second of the night. 8<\/p>\n
George Hemmings<\/p>\n
Hemmings grabbed an assist for Villa\u2019s opener, spotting Abraham\u2019s run in behind. It was a lovely ball with the outside of his right foot. The teenager was also effective in tight spaces. He switched to the right wing after the hour mark. 7<\/p>\n
![\"Tammy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0_Tammy-Abraham-of-Aston-Villa-celebrates-scoring.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tammy Abraham of Aston Villa celebrates scoring <\/p>\n
Tammy Abraham<\/p>\n
Abraham needed that first goal, and he took it like he was on a purple patch, coolly dispatching past Bentley. He linked play much better than in previous games, too, and bagged his second by turning in McGinn\u2019s corner. 9<\/p>\n
SUBS<\/p>\n
Zion Suzuki (for Bizot, HT): Suzuki wasn\u2019t expecting to play tonight, but it was needs must after Bizot signalled that he had picked up an injury. Solid half for the Japan international. 7<\/p>\n
Emi Buendia (for Mbaye, 64\u2019): Buendia played from the left, with Manzambi moving into the middle. 6<\/p>\n
Johan Manzambi (for McGinn, 64\u2019): Great to see Manzambi get more minutes in his legs and time to combine with his new teammates. 6<\/p>\n
Nicolas Jackson (for Abraham, 68\u2019): Bentley was behind his deflected effort just a few minutes after he came on for Tammy. 6<\/p>\n
Alysson (for Hemmings, 80′): N\/A<\/p>\n
Subs not used: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Kamara, Garnacho.<\/p>\n
GOALS<\/p>\n
Coventry City: Torp (27′)<\/p>\n
Aston Villa: Abraham (7′, 59), Barkley (40′)<\/p>\n
What did you make of Villa’s performance? Tell us here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Townley’s Aston Villa player ratings after Unai Emery’s side beat Coventry City in the Carabao Cup third…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[91986,29935,266342,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-627148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aston-villa-fc","tag-carabao-cup","tag-coventry-city-fc","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0_Ross-Barkley-of-Aston-Villa-celebrates-scoring.jpg\")
<\/p>\n