Ezri Konsa claims Troy Deeney's goal celebration helped fire-up Aston Villa for dramatic Watford fightback

Hornets striker Deeney, a lifelong Blues fan, goaded the Holte End after breaking the deadlock in Tuesday night’s relegation six-pointer.

But it was Villa who would end the night victorious, with second-half goals from Douglas Luiz and Tyrone Mings – the latter in the fifth minute of stoppage time – earning a win which saw them leapfrog the visitors and climb out of the Premier League drop zone.

Konsa said: “When Troy scored, you could see from his celebrations how much he enjoyed it.

“It made us a bit angry and the fans as well, so we knew we had to come out in the second half and do more.

“Things like that always fire you up – when you see someone celebrating like that in front of your fans.”

Konsa initially thought he had bagged the winner when his 95th-minute shot flew into the top corner to spark wild scenes of celebration at Villa Park.

But replays showed the effort had taken a slight deflection off Mings on its way in, denying Konsa a first career Premier League goal.

He said: “I’m not in the headlines and I’m sorry about that! But the win was the thing, 100 per cent. We knew we had to win.

“Watford were a point above us going into the game and it puts a little bit of pressure on the teams around us.

“It just shows that we can stay up in this league. Wins like that can keep us in the league.

“As a team we’ve always had that belief. A good point at Brighton on Saturday gave us good confidence going into this game. This will give us confidence too.”