John McGinn says Aston Villa are "buzzing" after recovering from a late setback to secure a "huge" victory over Sunderland.

Unai Emery's side moved level on points with third-place Manchester United following a dramatic 4-3 win at Villa Park.

Villa appeared to be cruising to victory at 3-1 up with five minutes remaining, but they looked set to drop two points following quickfire strikes from Trai Hume and Wilson Isidor.

However, in the third minute of stoppage time, Tammy Abraham glanced home Lucas Digne's cross to snatch a victory that moved Villa 10 points clear of sixth-place Chelsea with five games remaining.

It promises to be an exciting conclusion to the season for Villa, who are also through to the Europa League semi-finals, where they will face Nottingham Forest over two legs.

"It's huge for us. We knew how important this game was," McGinn said. "It wasn't perfect, but who cares at the end of the day?

"We've got to manage the game better. To go 3-3 is something we are definitely not happy with.

"We're buzzing. We will be frustrated there. We know we won the game, but we've got high standards of ourselves as a group.

"What a position we are in, semi-final of European competition and pole position to qualify for the top five.

"We can go and achieve what not many Aston Villa players have done for a long time. We're keen to do that, and we're driven. Five big games left to try and get ourselves over the line."

Abraham's winner marked the first time two Villa substitutes had combined for a goal in the 90th minute or later of a Premier League fixture.

"I am so, so happy," Emery added. "We played a fantastic match, and maybe the two goals we conceded in one minute, we lost our minds a little bit. They were excited. But how we reacted at 3-3 to score the fourth goal was fantastic.

"We started this match with many objectives. One of them was to stay fourth, get an advantage on other teams and leave Sunderland further behind us. We did it. I am so happy with how we played. 

"Normally, we are organised; it's our first objective. We try not to lose our position, and after the first goal, we lost our focus, and they used their threat to score the third goal. They had other chances to score the fourth goal, and we would have lost the match."

Sunderland, meanwhile, missed the chance to leapfrog Chelsea to sixth place, though they do remain just two points adrift of the Blues and well in the hunt for European qualification.

The Black Cats almost snatched all three points when Habib Diarra squandered a glorious chance when one-on-one with Emiliano Martinez, just moments before Abraham's last-gasp intervention.

"[We are] disappointed because we had the opportunity to win the game, just with this one-v-one with Habib," head coach Regis Le Bris said. "But the opposite way, we conceded the late goal.

"We showed good character and resilience, some good quality at times, but we felt the strength of Aston Villa, and they created many chances. A bit too much to be competitive at the end of this game.

"We didn't start well, first or second half. When you concede a goal straight after half-time, it's always difficult. At 3-1, with only one goal, you can change the dynamic and know it's possible. Our team won't give up.

"We are learning, we are still a newly promoted side and going away to Villa is a tough place. Ups and downs. We played with our identity until the end, took risks."