Donyell Malen scored twice in the first half as Aston Villa claimed a 2-1 Europa League victory over Young Boys.

Villa made it four wins from five games in this season's Europa League, moving into second place in the standings ahead of Thursday's late slate of games.

Malen grabbed both of their goals at Villa Park, where he headed them in front from Youri Tielemans' cross in the 27th minute.

The Dutch international was struck by a missile launched from the Young Boys supporters as he celebrated, and play then had to be stopped in the wake of Malen's second goal.

With Malen having drilled home from Morgan Rogers' pass, the visiting players had to go over and attempt to calm down some of the travelling supporters, with police also intervening.

Malen thought he had made it 3-0 early in the second half, only for the offside flag to cut short his hat-trick celebrations.

Young Boys substitute Chris Bedia saw a goal disallowed by VAR, though the visitors did have some hope when Joel Monteiro got in behind and brilliantly lashed home late on. Villa, however, held out for the three points.

Data Debrief: Malen on target again

Malen has now scored 12 goals in 19 Europa League appearances, netting eight for PSV, once for Borussia Dortmund and now three times for Villa.

However, he is yet to assist a goal in the competition. Since the competition was rebranded for the 2009-10 season, no player has scored more goals in it than Malen without providing an assist (Youssef En-Nesyri and Fernando Torres also netted 12 each).

Malen was responsible for three of Villa's 19 attempts, getting all of his shots on target, as Unai Emery's team accumulated 2.03 expected goals to Young Boys' 0.31, while the winger led the way for touches in the opposition box (11) and big chances (three).