2-0

*Leandro Bacuna scored a spectacular free-kick as Aston Villa ended their Premier League goal drought against Cardiff City.*

Villa had gone seven-and-a-half hours without finding the net before the Dutch winger’s curling effort.

Libor Kozak’s header doubled the margin of victory with six minutes left.

Villa also kept their first home clean sheet for 16 games as Cardiff were brought back down to earth following their derby win over Swansea.

Before this fixture Paul Lambert’s side last scored in the 3-2 win over Manchester City when Andreas Weimann bagged the winner.

They started brightly, though, and midfielder Karim El Ahmadi’s long-range shot was parried by Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall early on with striker Christian Benteke unable to react quickly enough to latch on to the rebound.

Benteke’s strike partner Kozak went close to putting through his own net at the other end moments later when his header went inches past the post.

A defensive mix-up let Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson pinch the ball on the edge of the penalty area in the 12th minute, but Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan scampered off his line to snuff out the danger.

The remainder of the first half became scrappy with chances at a premium.

Kozak, who joined Villa from Lazio for £7m on deadline day, brought a fine diving save out of Marshall moments after the half-time interval when he got his head on the end of Bacuna’s cross from the right.

The hosts looked the more likely side to break the deadlock and almost caught Cardiff on the counter attack when El Ahmadi crossed for Benteke but the Belgium international directed his header wide.

And it was Bacuna - signed by Lambert from Groningen in the summer - who eventually broke the stalemate after being fouled by Gary Medel just outside the penalty area.

The 21-year-old winger dusted himself down and curled the resulting set-piece around the Cardiff wall and into the net with Marshall rooted to the spot.

Koazk made the points safe late on when he scored Villa’s second with a close-range header after Matthew Lowton had nodded the ball back across goal.

Cardiff pressed to get themselves back into the game in the remaining minutes but the home defence stood firm to secure the points.