In the final round of the league on 7 May, Villa host Brighton, the leaders of the Championship who have conceded the fewest goals this season, with the first leg coming in a 17-1 draw. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Brighton did not dare to underestimate the Villa team that made great efforts in the second half of the reinforcements, and it was away again, putting on a dense defensive counterattack of 451, with Dunk, Dufy, Bon and Spanish veteran Bruno Salto leading the back line with two midfielders Stephens, Kayar and three other midfielders with strong running ability, leaving only Israeli striker Tomel Hemad to counterattack.

The Villa team continued to use the most used formation for this game, with Di Matteo abandoning Benkovic, who had accidentally played an own goal in the previous game, on the left centre-back, and opted for captain Richards, who had been suffering from repeated minor injuries, and abandoned Lincoln in the midfield position, pushing Grealish behind Alario, and Lampard in the left midfield position.

This battle is related to the position of the Villa players next year, they showed the ambition to win at the beginning of the game, attacking wave after wave did not give Brighton a chance to breathe, but Brighton is the team that conceded the fewest goals after all, although the reputation is not as big as the Villa players, but the back line has long been run-in and mature, and there is a season of 27 wins in the confidence, lack of Lincoln's flexible interspersed and key passes, the Villa team bombarded the door at half time and did not come to open the door of the 31-year-old England goalkeeper Stockdale, Stockdale, who is 1.91 meters tall, made several saves and became the strongest backing behind Brighton's back line.

In the second half, neither side made adjustments, Grealish was lost in front of the tall defense and almost disappeared in the half, and the most worrying thing was Richards in the backline, he was not in ideal physical condition, he made a mistake and was almost caught by Brighton, fortunately Vallejo cleared in time, Di Matteo was still unmoved in the face of these hidden dangers, and chose to believe in his own players, he felt that it was only a matter of time before he knocked on the door of the opponent with the current strength of the team, and he still seemed to be waiting for 67 minutes of adjustment. The Villa team, which continued to besiege and continue to be unavailable, inevitably entered a stage of agitation, and gradually became physically problematic.

However, there was good news off the pitch as another crucial game Newcastle v Barnsley was a surprise opener for Barnsley on 56 minutes, and if the score goes on trend, a draw between Villa and Brighton will go hand in hand.

The good news over there made Di Matteo more cautious, and the stylized substitution was also staged in the 67th minute as scheduled, Di Matteo did not replace Grealish, who was declining in physical strength, but replaced Alario with Coggia, Alario did not get too good chances in the first half because he fell into a ferocious defense, but in all fairness, several threatening attacks were formed by him holding the ball with his back, which is a strong fulcrum in the front court, this pressure can only be experienced by the opposing players on the field, and sure enough, after replacing Alario, The pressure on Brighton's backline suddenly subsided, and they gradually dared to press and attack.

In the 77th minute, there was good news again from Newcastle's side, Barnsley seized the opportunity of Newcastle's big pressure, the goalkeeper threw the ball and counterattacked again, and the happy Di Matteo finally replaced Grealish, but he was replaced by the back Yerdinak, intending to strengthen the defense and try to win a point conservatively. Before Jedinak could find his rhythm on the pitch, he was counter-attacked by Brighton. Murphy burst into the penalty area from Richards' position, Richards lost his defensive position, fell to the ground in a hurry, and made a big move, almost with both feet off the ground.

This season, the FA has introduced the toughest measures in its history to crack down on disrespect for referees, with direct red cards for verbal abuse and physical assault, and scissor legs with both feet off the ground, as Manchester City's Brazilian midfielder Ferdinho and Arsenal's Xhaka have received consecutive red cards in this season. Richards' actions were not as good as these two, and sure enough, the referee decisively awarded a penalty and sent Richards off directly.

There were boos at the Villa Stadium, some against the referee and some against the players, but everyone knew that there was almost no dispute about the penalty, which was just to vent their dissatisfaction. Brighton certainly won't let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Murphy, who created the penalty, successfully scored the ball in the face of boos from the crowd, and the Villa Stadium fell into a deathly silence.

Di Matteo couldn't calm down anymore, and hurriedly replaced Lincoln, but there were only 10 minutes left, Brighton targeted to replace the more physical defenders, withstood Villa's last crazy counterattack, and finally the Villa team hated home 0-1, although it had the same points as Newcastle but lost 13 goal difference, lost the opportunity to directly qualify for the Premier League, and had to go to the Championship play-offs.

The Championship play-offs are the most expensive competition in the world, and if you count it as one, it is worth nearly 200 million pounds, which is hundreds of millions of yuan per minute! The specific dividend rules for Premier League teams are: 50% is the average share of TV broadcasts (TVEqualShare), 25% comes from the ranking bonus (MeritMoney), and 25% comes from broadcast sessions (FacilityFees), in addition to international broadcast fees and commercial income (CentralCommercial) are also evenly distributed, and the Premier League's sky-high TV broadcast contract of 8.3 billion pounds has come into effect this season. This means that once it rises, it will have a solid income of nearly 100 million pounds.

Villa, who have lost their chance of direct promotion, will face sixth-placed Huddersfield Town in the first leg at home on 13 May and John Smith Stadium in the second leg on 16 May, with the winner of the two games taking on the winner of the match between fourth-placed Leeds United and fifth-placed Reading on 20 May.

Villa were greeted with disappointment from the crowd and a rare boo from Villa Park to Di Matteo, with the manager embarrassed and returning to the dressing room before the players could leave. Li Haolong hurried to the locker room with an awkward farewell to the guests who had come and gone, and he had to cheer for the players and motivate them to play well for the rest of the game, and not lose their fighting spirit because of this game.

Maybe Li Haolong said more, Di Matteo, who had been silent since Li Haolong came in, stood up, his face was calm, and his voice was calm.

"Mr. President, I didn't achieve the team's expected goals, and after thinking about it for a long time, I decided that it would be better to resign."