8 March 2025
Brentford 0 Aston Villa 1
It has been a real season of two halves for Thomas Frank’s side. They had turned the Gtech Community Stadium into a fortress before Christmas but now have gone six games without a win in West London. They welcomed Aston Villa to the capital, who themselves are looking to get things back on track in the Premier League.
Unai Emery has taken this Villa team to the promised land of Champions League football. Add to that, they are blossoming in the competition. After a convincing away win in the first-leg of their last-16 tie, they look likely to make it to the quarter-finals stage. Despite this, the top four is some way off this campaign, adding question marks as to whether they will qualify for next season.
Often sides struggle with the demands of both domestic and European exploits. Aston Villa had failed to win in their last seven Premier League matches following Champions League games. Something had to change. They started positively against The Bees, transitioning from defence into attack with some slick passing moves.
Rogers received the ball in the penalty area, cutting inside onto his right foot, before looking to bend one in the far corner. His effort seemed to be heading in but Collins got a head to it to send it behind for a corner. It was an early warning for the hosts as to just how quickly this Villa side can turn defence into attack, something they would need to be wary of.
Damsgaard gave a way a free-kick just inside the Brentford half. As the ball was lofted into the box, Mings got onto the end of it, completely unmarked. He looked to guide it into the goal but his effort was straight at Flekken, who made a routine save. The Bees were struggling to get their attacking game going, allowing the visitors to dictate play.
Tielemans then ran at the hosts’ defence, exploiting gaps to get a shot away. Flekken beat the effort away and The Bees managed to get a block in as Rogers looked to drill the loose ball goalwards. As the resulting corner came in, Pinnock almost diverted the ball into his net. No one was more relieved to see the ball land on the roof of the net than the Brentford defender.
Despite their dominance, Aston Villa just could not find a goal to break the deadlock. The sides went in at the interval all square, something Brentford fans would have been pleased to see. All season The Bees have performed much better in the second-half of games. Olsen had been completely untested in the Villa goal up until this point.
After the break, another Brentford attack broke down. It seemed far too easy for Aston Villa to get from one end of the pitch to the other with some impressive passing. Watkins picked the ball up out wide and drove towards the penalty area. He checked onto his right foot and fired off a shot, beating Flekken at his near post to give the visitors the lead.
Of all the people to score it was the former Brentford striker. The Bees’ keeper seemed completely wrong-footed by a deflection off Collins, which saw the ball go through the legs of Flekken. Watkins’ goal completely silenced the Gtech Community Stadium. Many fans still had issue with the way the striker left them for pastures new.
Moments later, Villa thought they had doubled their lead. Ramsey did well getting down the left wing, before sliding a pass into the path of Watkins. He held the ball up well once getting into the box, before laying it off into the path of Rogers. The former Man City youngster drilled his effort past Flekken to seemingly give Emery’s side some breathing space in the game.
However, VAR was then to review the goal to see if there was an offside in the build-up. It would prove to be the case that Watkins was offside by the narrowest of margins as the home fans celebrated the news that it was to be ruled out. Rogers was left reeling, wondering whether their lines had been accurate in the review process.
As Brentford came forward with Damsgaard, he scooped a sublime pass over the Aston Villa defence. Schade was looking to run onto it but seemed to be bundled over as both Disasi and Cash went to ground. The referee waved away their protests and awarded a corner. Looking at the replay, this was a good decision as Cash had actually headed the ball behind before all three players ended up on the floor.
Frank’s side were throwing everything at the visitors by this stage of the game. Collins and Mbuemo combined out wide before swinging a cross into the box. Damsgaard picked up the loose ball and laid it off into the path of Lewis-Potter. His first-time shot found a way through the crowd of players before crashing against the post and coming back into play.
Try as they might, Brentford just could not create any clear-cut chances. Watkins had the chance to put the game to bed late on but his attempt to dink it over the keeper was easily caught by Flekken. It was a vital win for Unai Emery’s side who moved up to seventh in the table. The Bees’ recent run of poor form has seen them drop to twelfth place in the Premier League table.
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