Norwich relegated after Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings secure Aston Villa win

Norwich City’s latest relegation to the Championship was confirmed after their defeat at Villa Park, courtesy of goals from Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, and Burnley’s late win at Watford.

Although Dean Smith, returning to the club he left behind in November, saw his current side play with courage and dominate possession in the second half, Aston Villa deserved their first win in six games after creating the vast majority of clearcut chances.

Norwich’s third demotion in six years comes as no great surprise and their supporters sang with gusto in the latter stages as they tried to cheer their team to gain the equaliser that would have extended their survival hopes for another week. But they were simply not good enough, all over the park, as they fell to a third successive defeat.

The all-important first goal came via an enforced change, after an injury to Leon Bailey, that reaped an immediate dividend for Villa as a first touch from Ings, the substitute, led to Watkins firing home his 10th Premier League goal of the season.

Watkins was a live-wire all day, volleying just over in the sixth minute and constantly threatening to get in behind, and his goal always looked likely to provide the springboard for Villa to play on the counter-attack.

The England striker’s explosive finish came within a minute of a substitution that encouraged Steven Gerrard to make a key tactical change. Bailey, who saw a superb left-foot shot tipped on to the crossbar by Tim Krul as Villa chased an early breakthrough, had to go off. The emergence of Ings allowed Villa to switch to a midfield diamond, with Philippe Coutinho at the tip.

Ings took up a position high and wide on the left and his first contribution was a long diagonal pass that sent