Aston Villa 1 Brentford 1 - Report

Buendia finished off a fine move with an equally fine finish to bring Villa level in the first half after prolific Bees’ frontman Ivan Toney had given the visitors the lead.

It was the fifth successive Villa Park meeting between the two sides to end in stalemate and while Villa would have wanted all three points, having lost a further three first-teamers to those already absent it was at least a point gained to take into the international break.

They perhaps ran out of steam a bit in the second half and found it difficult to further break down a resolute Brentford side who remain unbeaten in the Premier League, but there was the welcome sight to take into the international break of Ollie Watkins coming off the bench for his first appearance of the season.

Villa went into the game having to make those three changes to the starting line-up from the Premier League win against Newcastle seven days previously.

Tyrone Mings missed out with injury with Axel Tuanzebe coming in to replace him whilst John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey were absent due to following government guidelines relating to Covid-19.

That offered an opportunity for 17-year-old Carney Chukwuemeka, who had played in the midweek EFL Cup win at Barrow, to come in for his first Premier League appearance with Matt Targett also brought into the starting line-up.

There was some good news with Watkins making his first appearance in the matchday squad for the season after injury against his former team while, in Mings’ absence, another former ‘Bee’ Ezri Konsa took the captain’s armband.

Brentford also had to change their line-up due to Covid with Frank Onyeka missing out after a positive test and Saman Ghoddos coming in.

There was another fantastic atmosphere inside Villa Park at kick off and a particularly rousing reception for debutant Chukwuemeka.

And there was almost a horror start for Brentford keeper David Raya when Danny Ings blocked his attempted clearance but the ball broke to safety.

But the game’s first breakthrough came with just seven minutes on the clock, thanks to prolific Brentford marksman Toney.

A corner was cleared but when Sergi Canos drilled it back into the box a deft backheel from Pontus Jansson directed the ball perfectly into Toney’s path and he had time to pick his spot and fire home into the corner.

Villa’s defence was looking shaky and Toney had another chance again minutes later, this time Konsa needing to be on hand to make the block.

But with their first real attack of quality Villa produced the perfect response to draw level in the 13th minute.

Ings produced some lovely interplay with Anwar El Ghazi down the left and found Buendia on the edge of the box who had time to take a couple of touches before despatching the ball past Raya to level things up.

Buoyed by the goal Villa were now sweeping forward with El Ghazi particularly prominent and he created a great chance just minutes later.

Skipping past his man he sent in a low cross which seemed to ricochet off Konsa before falling to Ings whose instant snapshot was very well saved by Raya.

So much of Villa’s good work was coming through El Ghazi and he found some space to thread a dangerous ball into the box which Jansson managed to shepherd out with Young chasing.

Almost immediately came the first scare at the opposite end for some time when Bryan Mbeumo got in behind the defence forcing Emi Martinez to come out and smother. Replays however showed Mbeumo was in an offside position so even if he had scored, it wouldn’t have counted.

And for all their threat going forward Villa were almost caught out again at the back as a well-worked move finished with Vitaly Janelt playing in Rico Henry who dragged his shot across goal and just wide of the target.

It was certainly an exciting end-to-end contest with a lively atmosphere to boot and after El Ghazi won a free kick on the left, Buendia’s delivery was met by the head of Tuanzebe who brought a regulation save out of Raya.

Brentford did have the ball in the net again in the 40th minute as Janelt touched the ball away as Emi Martinez was taking a goal kick out of his hands and slotted into the empty net.

Referee Peter Bankes immediately blew up to award the foul and saw his decision ratified by a speedy VAR check.

The first few minutes of the second half brought a couple of quickfire bookings for cynical trips with El Ghazi and Toney both seeing yellow.

In between times there was a worrying moment for Villa when Mbeumo seemed to bundle Cash over but no foul was given allowing him to knock the ball across goal where fortunately no Brentford attacker was in attendance.

After a fairly quiet first ten minutes of the second half the game started to liven up when Brentford put a couple of balls into the box and Villa threatened as El Ghazi’s pass for Ings was just too strong.

Buendia and El Ghazi were the two Villa men still looking to make things happen and the latter was fouled by Christian Norgaard as he attempted to break with the Brentford midfielder becoming the third name in the book.

Closely followed by Cash, who was starting to find Mbeumo a tricky customer and also saw yellow for pulling him back.

Chukwuemeka had produced a tidy debut in the heart of the midfield and he was withdrawn to a standing ovation just after the hour mark with Marvelous Nakamba coming on.

Buendia was next to create, whipping a dangerous free kick into the box aimed for Ings but Brentford managed to get it clear.

El Ghazi was properly in the mood for Villa and cut inside from the left before letting fly with a fierce right foot shot which was off target.

By now the challenges were also starting to fly in with both Ings and Buendia clearly fouled in quick succession only for referee Bankes, who was right on the spot, to give nothing.

Ings was then pulled up for clipping the hells of Ajer and whether for the challenge or his subsequent protests – perhaps pointing out he had been upended minutes earlier – he found himself among the growing number of players to be booked.

The flurry of yellow cards continued after Janelt fouled Young and, with the game moving into the closing stages, Villa were trying to build up a head of steam with Targett and Young sending crosses into the penalty area which were cleared and then collected by Raya respectively.

With 11 minutes remaining the Villa Park atmosphere reached fever pitch as Watkins was sent into the fray to replace Young.

First of all Villa had some defending to do as Ethan Pinnock met a corner from substitute Mathias Jensen but couldn’t get enough power on his header to trouble Martinez.

A stoppage followed for Konsa to receive treatment after he fell awkwardly in going for the challenge and after trying to continue the skipper was forced out of the action with Kortney Hause coming off the bench.

That also denied Cameron Archer a Premier League bow as the midweek hat trick hero in the cup had been primed and ready for action prior to Konsa’s injury.

The signalling of eight minutes added time raised the crescendo levels at Villa Park once again and the intended introduction of Archer had clearly been a sign of boss Dean Smith wanting to go for the win.

In the sixth minute of added time El Ghazi beat his man once again and sent a deep cross into the area which was met by Watkins but his header was comfortably saved by Raya.

A fine break a minute later also finished with a Watkins effort on goal but his low left foot shot was also taken cleanly by the Brentford keeper.

There was therefore to be no dream return, and the sharing of the spoils meant Villa head into the international break after a hard-fought tussle having taken four points from their opening trio of fixtures.

Teams

Villa (4-1-2-3): Martinez, Cash, Konsa © (Hause 89), Tuanzebe, Targett; Luiz; Chukwuemeka (Nakamba 63), Young (Watkins 79); Buendia, Ings, El Ghazi.

Subs not used: Steer, Hourihane, Gilbert, Philogene-Bidace, Archer, A. Ramsey.

Brentford (3-4-3): Raya, Ajer, Jansson©, Pinnock; Canos, Janelt (Baptiste 89), Norgaard, Henry; Toney, Ghoddos (Wissa 66), Mbeumo (Jensen 80).

Subs not used: Fernandez, Thompson, Forss, Dervisoglu, Bidstrup, Stevens.