Aston Villa thump Bolton

A Gareth Barry brace helped Aston Villa to a 4-0 victory over Bolton, and moved the Trotters a step closer to Premiership relegation. Aston Villa were in scintillating form, and Bolton's time in the Premiership looks to have come to an end now.

Villa secured their 4-0 victory with a brace of goals from captain Gareth Barry and strikes from Gabriel Agbonlahor and substitute Marlon Harewood. The result left Bolton four points adrift of safety with only five games left to salvage their top-flight status.

Villa went ahead early on. An Ashley Young cross was met by Gareth Barry with a perfectly timed run to send a header past Bolton goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Ten minutes after the restart, Agbonlahor got on the end of a John Carew cross to claim his first goal of 2008.

That was effectively game over but Villa continued to push forward and Barry found the net four minutes later with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area.

The Villa captain rounded off an impressive afternoon's work with the inswinging free-kick that substitute Harewood glanced into the net, ensuring the home side ended a run of three defeats in some style.