Aston Villa 0 Brentford 1: Unai Emery's men stung by the Bees

The bad news is they and everyone else appears stuck with VAR.

For the second time this season Unai Emery’s team were stung by the Bees and Dango Ouattara, with the visitors receiving considerable assistance from video assistant Paul Tierney to deal Villa a defeat to quieten title aspirations for the next week.

Ouattara’s brilliant finish earned his team a victory which looked improbable when Kevin Schade had been sent off just three minutes earlier for violent conduct.

It looked even less likely when Tammy Abraham, starting in place of the injured Ollie Watkins, tapped home four minutes into the second half for what everyone thought was a goal on his second debut for the club.

But the moment was erased from the record books by VAR Paul Tierney, who following a check of more than three minutes ruled the ball had been taken out of play by Leon Bailey at the other end of the pitch.

It is that incident which will dominate much of the post-match discussion and understandably so. In the long catalogue of daft decisions since the technology began to blight the game in 2018, it may well have been the daftest and had a huge impact on the course of the match.

Yet this was also a hugely disappointing performance from Villa, who were unable to channel the energy delivered by Abraham and Douglas Luiz’s returns to the club and unable to score past an opponent who played, including stoppages, more than an hour a man down.

In what has been an excellent season, Villa have curiously struggled with a man advantage.

The only time they have dropped points from a winning position was against the 10-men of Sunderland. This result goes alongside that as their worst of the campaign.

The atmosphere inside Villa Park prior to kick-off was almost party-like. Abraham and Luiz were both announced to the crowd to huge roars, the latter spreading his arms and pointing his fingers toward the sky.

It was Brentford, however, who began better. Mathias Jensen shot wide after finding space on the left of the box, while Michael Kayode’s long throws were causing problems for Emi Martinez. Schade should have done far better from 10 yards out after a poor punch landed at his feet.

Abraham’s first chance came almost out of the blue. Morgan Rogers finally found some room in the middle and sent the striker scampering after a through ball. Caoimhin Kelleher and Sepp van den Berg were closing fast but Abraham won the race, his poked finish hitting the body of the keeper before flying to safety.

Other than that opening, set pieces looked Villa’s most likely route to an opener but they could not find a finish. Ian Maatsen volleyed over after being picked out by Luiz at a corner, before Ezri Konsa wasted an even better opening, skewing a first-time effort horribly off target after being found at a free-kick.

If you were being polite, you might have called it a chess match. If you were being honest, you would say it was plain dull until Schade’s rush of blood to the head began a frantic finish to the half.

Getting up from a tangle with Cash, the Brentford forward pushed his boot into the lower end of the full-back’s midriff. Referee Tim Robinson wasted little time producing the red card, Shade’s complaints could only be described as puzzling.

That seemed to give Villa the advantage but three minutes later, Ouattara gave the visitors something to hold onto.

Racing on to Ajer’s ball over the top, the forward got a little fortunate when his attempted cross for Thiago rebounded to him off Torres. The finish, however, was pure quality, angled high and just inside the far post.

Villa came close to an instant reply but Ajer’s strong afternoon continued when he slid in to deflect Abraham’s shot behind for a corner.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews went to speak with referee Robinson as the teams came off at the break, clearly unhappy with the decision-making.

Yet within four minutes of the restart it was his team who caught a break thanks to perhaps the barmiest VAR decision to date. 

Villa broke quickly, Buendia picking out the run of Sancho with a lovely pass with the outside his boot. Kelleher might have done better with the shot, pushing it straight back out for Abraham to slot home.

None of it mattered as more than three minutes later, Tierney deemed in all probability the ball had gone out of play at the other end of the pitch.

Villa looked visibly deflated for several minutes after the restart and the task of picking their way through the massed ranks of Brentford’s defence was proving difficult. 

Cash stung the gloves of Kelleher with a rising shot, yet the lack of space in the visiting box was leading to few chances.

Emery even turned to Harvey Elliott in the search for inspiration but he shot over, before Bailey wasted one of the best chances of the half, lifting his shot too high after a rare chance on the break.

Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Luiz, Bogarde (Bailey HT), Sancho (Elliott 77), Rogers, Buendia, Abraham Subs not used: Lindelof, Digne, Mings, Barkley, Hemmings, Onana, Elliott, Bizot (gk).

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, Van den Berg, Henry (Hickey 84), Henderson (Collins 59), Janelt, Ouattara (Yarmoliuk 60), Jensen (Lewis-Potter 76), Schade, Thiago Subs not used: Pinnock, Damsgaard, Donovan, Bentt, Valdimarsson (gk).