Norwich City fell to a third straight defeat after a goal from Jacob Ramsey and a late strike from Ollie Watkins gave Aston Villa all three points at Carrow Road.
The Canaries, whose preparation for the game was disrupted by COVID-19 issues and injuries to a number of key players, fell behind in the first half and struggled to create enough openings to grab an equaliser, as the visitors were allowded to successfully slow the game down after the break, before Watkins side footed home the second late on.
City made four changes to the starting XI, with Ben Gibson, Brandon Williams, Jacob Sørensen and Todd Cantwell coming into the side for Dimitris Giannoulis, Lukas Rupp, Grant Hanley and Josh Sargent.
Steven Gerrard made just one change to the Aston Villa side beaten 1-0 by Liverpool at Anfield. Emiliano Buendía returned to face his former club, replacing the injured Marvelous Nakamba.
Villa started the game brightly with two chances in the opening 10 minutes as Buendía crossed for Ollie Watkins to head towards goal and then John McGinn lined up a shot from 25 yards out that Tim Krul had to tip over his crossbar.
Przemysław Płacheta, who was Norwich's brightest spark in the opening 45 minutes, then floated a good cross to the back post that Kenny McLean met on the volley, but unfortunatley his effort was well blocked by Matty Cash.
Ramsey then volleyed an effort off target before Ben Gibson was needed to put in a superb sliding interception to prevent a Cash cross from getting to Watkins at the far post.
Sørensen then had a header at goal from a Gilmour free-kick but the momentum was with the visitors and they nudge themselves in front when Watkins fed Ramsey the ball on halfway and he drove towards the Norwich City penalty area before hitting a shot that deflected on its way past Krul.
The home side where then dealt another injury blow on the stroke of half-time as Ozan Kabak went down injured. That saw Sam Bryam come on for his first game in more than 18 months to a warm applause from the home crowd and a reshuffle in positions as he went into central midfield and Sørensen dropped into defence.
The second half started with Norwich City looking to get into the challenges quicker and create mistakes from their opponents and after Ben Gibson tested Emiliano Martínez with a header from a corner, Kenny McLean was inches away from getting on the end of a misplaced pass from Ezri Konza.
However, Villa fired another warning shot on 53 minutes with Matt Targett dragging a shot from just inside the area wide then Buendía crossed for Watkins to head towards goal, forcing Krul to block with his legs at the near post.
Head coach Dean Smith then made his second change of the evening on the hour as he brought on Adam Idah for Todd Cantwell. He was immediately played in on the left by a good run and pass from Płacheta but his cross into the area didn't find Pukki.
With 20 minutes to go Norwich had another effort on target as Gilmour crossed for McLean to send a header goalward but unfortunately it was straight at Martínez.
Moments late though and Buendía came close to making it two when capitalising on an error from Brandon Williams, Watkins teed up the former Norwich City player on for his effort on goal to be blocked.
Norwich kept pushing forward looking for an elusive equaliser but Villa then wrapped up the points with three minutes of normal time left as substitute Carney Chukwuemeka sent a low cross the back post where Watkins side foot home.
Norwich City: Krul; Aarons, Gibson (C), Kabak (Byram, 45), Williams; Gilmour, Sørensen, McLean; Płacheta (Dowell, 75), Pukki, Cantwell (Idah, 61)
Subs not used: Gunn, Mumba, Giannoulis, Idah, Tomkinson, Dickson-Peters, Rowe
Bookings: Aarons (46), Byram (55), Williams (63)
Aston Villa: Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; McGinn (Tuanzebe, 88), Douglas Luiz, J Ramsey; Buendía (Chukwuemeka, 83), Watkins, Young (Ings, 58)
Subs not used: Trézéguet, Hause, Philogene-Bidace, Archer, Marschall, Iroegbunam
Goals: Ramsey (34), Watkins (87)
Bookings: Konsa (49)
HT: 0-1
Venue: Carrow Road
Referee: David Coote
Attendance: 28,886
The official Golden Goal times were:
1st Goal: 33:53
2nd Goal: 86:26
Tonight’s lucky number was 2266 – the winner will receive a Norwich City shirt signed by the 1st team squad