The German international is out of contract at the end of the season and is the subject of a lot of speculation throughout Europe but he gave David O’Leary a reminder of what he could be missing with a superbly taken strike on 73 minutes. Hitzlsperger, on for Lee Hendrie, latched on to a pass from Juan Pablo Angel, flicked it up and volleyed past an unmoving Kostas Chalkias. It settled a vibrant match, that had flowed one way and then the next but the more the game went on the more Villa's threat developed.
Portsmouth had started the brighter of the sides, however, and went close when Patrik Berger, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Steve Stone combined to set up Diomansy Kamara for a low, angled shot that went narrowly wide. But it was the visitors who broke the deadlock. Enjoying one of his best starts for the side, Luke Moore sprinted behind the defence and his low centre was turned into his own net by Arjan De Zeeuw.
Portsmouth responded quickly and Berger ran through the middle to fire a long-range drive against a post. Calls for a penalty were turned down when Gareth Barry tussled with Kamara inside the box, but a second appeal, when former Villain Stone clashed knees, again with Barry, was upheld by Dermot Gallagher. Yakubu languidly stroked his penalty into one corner as Thomas Sørensen acrobatically dived towards the other.
Kamara should have tested the Danish goalkeeper again moments later from Berger's corner as Portsmouth regained the initiative. Yakubu’s connection from Aliou Cissé's cross was much better – beating Olof Mellberg and Sørensen, though not the far post but Gallagher had blown for offside. Mellberg could have made amends for losing his marker at the other end but headed Barry’s corner wide, before Angel forced Chalkias into a rare save, shooting after tidy work from Nolberto Solano.
After the interval Kamara turned Liam Ridgewell inside out before driving a fierce effort wide. It proved a wake-up call for the visitors and although Ridgewell looked uneasy on the defensive, he was not called upon too much as Villa took a strangle hold on the game. Angel hit the crossbar with a powerful header from Solano's right-wing cross before David O’Leary’s side got their reward when Hitzlsperger hit an unstoppable shot past Chalkias.
Villa have now won two Premiership matches away from Birmingham this season – the first came against Bolton - and the left midfielder has hit a spectacular late winner in each. The 22-year-old, who started his first international game against Argentina last Wednesday, is out of contract at the end of the season and has yet to be offered a new one as a host of European sides start to circle around him waiting to take on a free agent. Goals like yesterday’s simple make the whirring louder and Doug Ellis’ failure to offer new terms beguiling.