Brighton defeats Aston Villa to stop a six-game losing streak.
Joao Pedro's penalty halts Villa's hopes of winning the Champions League spot.
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Brighton deservedly won 1-0 at the Amex Stadium as Joao Pedro scored a late goal to stop Aston Villa's push to go to the Champions League.
Villa knew that a loss to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon would guarantee them fourth place in the top four, and they had the opportunity to go 10 points clear of fifth-place Tottenham with a victory.
However, following their midweek loss to Olympiakos, Unai Emery's team were fatigued. The struggling hosts were denied the first goal by VAR in the second half after Pascal Gross was flagged offside.
John McGinn of Villa scored next, but he was also offside, and Brighton duly won the game when Pedro headed in the rebound after his penalty was saved by the outstanding Robin Olsen.
With two games remaining, Villa is still seven points ahead of Spurs in fourth place.
The greatest player the entire time was Simon Adingra of Brighton, who compelled Robin Olsen to make an early save.
Villa found it difficult to establish a rhythm, which was made worse when the game's most effective player, Morgan Rogers, was taken out in the 24th minute due to a muscle injury.
In extra time, the hosts had two opportunities, with Adingra failing to put a cross past Olsen and the Villa goalkeeper making a vital close-range save to deny Gross.
In the second half, Olsen maintained his excellent play when Adingra put Joao Pedro through on goal, but the tall goalie stopped the striker.
Gross' header from Igor's left-wing cross gave Brighton the impression that they had finally taken the lead, but a thorough VAR examination resulted in the goal being disallowed.
Then, as the ball bounced back and hit McGinn inside the box, Villa saw his strike ruled offside, and Danny Welbeck of Brighton watched his header go wide.
Adingra got the better of Ezri Konsa and went down in the box, rewarding Brighton for their persistent efforts to score a goal. Pedro's penalty was saved by Olsen, who dove to his right, but the Brighton forward was able to head in the rebound.
