Aston Villa ended their eight-game winless run in all competitions with a dominant victory over Brentford at a very wet and cold Villa Park.
Brentford, along with this weekend’s visitors to Villa Park, Southampton, have failed to win a single game on the road this year so this was the game that Villa had to win given their recent form and they didn’t disappoint.
The sad thing was that the highlight was more focused on the 5,000+ empty seats inside Villa Park on the night instead of the impressive victory. Various factors included Brentfords poor away following (hardly surprising given the time of year and their away form), ticket prices and of course the late kick-off. Some fans turned their focus on social media to Chris Heck. I won’t go too much into that for now.
Unai Emery handed Tyrone Mings his first Premier League start since his long-term injury with Pau Torres dropping to the bench. The other change came when Leon Bailey was preferred over Jaden Philogene.
Villa was on a mission and looked focused as Tomas Frank’s side struggled with the pace and directness of the attacks.
The home side took the lead after 21 minutes when Morgan Rogers released Ollie Watkins who raced into the box before pulling back for Rogers. The England International curled a stunner into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Seven minutes later Villa doubled their lead when Watkins was brought down by Ethan Pinnock after being played through by Bailey. Villa missed their last penalty through Your Tielemans but Watkins stepped up this time and despite Mark Flekken getting his hand to the ball, it nestled into the bottom corner to make it seven goals in the Premier League this season for the striker.
A further four minutes later the game was as good as over when Villa made it three after 31 minutes. John McGinn broke down the left but saw his cross cleared but only as far as Rogers. The former Middlesbrough man sent over another cross, finding Matty Cash at the back post to slot home.
Villa continued to dominate in the second half but the visitors pulled one back through Mikkel Damsgaard against the run of play.
The only real complaint would have been concerning that goal and maybe the fact Villa only scored three but otherwise it was a solid performance and win for Aston Villa.
