Aston Villa have been promoted to the Premier League after beating Derby 2-1 in the Championship play-off final on Monday.
Villa got the better if Frank Lampard’s side at Wembley as Anwar El Ghazi opened the scoring in the first half and John McGinn headed into an open goal on the hour mark after an error from goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
Although Jack Marriott pulled one back for the Rams in the 81st minute to set up a tense finish to the game, Dean Smith’s team held on despite seven minutes of added time to book their return to the English top-flight after three years in the Championship.
The Villans were 15th in the table when Smith replaced Steve Bruce at the helm in October, but won 17 of their 34 league games under the 48-year-old to end up fifth in the Championship table and two points ahead of Monday’s opponents before entering the play-offs.
The Birmingham outfit got the better of West Brom in the semi-final, beating their local rivals on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw to book a place in the final for the second time in a row, having missed out to Fulham last year.
