Brentford 0 Aston Villa 1: Highlights, match report and reaction | OneFootball

Brentford lost 1-0 to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday evening, as former Bees striker Ollie Watkins netted the only goal of the game at Gtech Community Stadium.

The Villa forward's deflected effort just after half-time sealed the victory for the visitors, despite some heavy pressure from Brentford in the second half, which saw Keane Lewis-Potter hit the post and two penalty appeals turned down by the officials.

Christian Nørgaard, who missed the 1-1 draw against Everton through concussion, replaced Yehor Yarmoliuk in the only change to the starting XI.

Mathias Jensen and Benjamin Fredrick were named on the bench, with Michael Kayode, Fábio Carvalho and Benjamin Arthur not included in the matchday squad.

Brentford had the first real opportunity of the game inside the opening six minutes, which came from an impressive Bees press.

Mikkel Damsgaard robbed John McGinn inside the penalty area after the Villa player was swarmed and, when the ball fell to Yoane Wissa just outside the six-yard box, the forward could only manage two scrambled attempts towards goal, which were both well blocked and cleared by Youri Tielemans.

The hosts were on the attack again a few minutes later, with Damsgaard, unsurprisingly, the creator. A superb pass from the Dane into the overlapping Vitaly Janelt saw the German free wide on the left, but Kevin Schade couldn't convert his squared ball across the six-yard box. Janelt was later flagged offside.

It was then Aston Villa’s chance to attack, which they did with a fast-paced counter. Jacob Ramsey picked the ball up in the final third, cut in, and bent an effort towards the top-right corner, which required a fantastic header from Nathan Collins to divert the goal-bound effort.

The visitors had a great chance on 20 minutes, as a deep Tielemans free-kick was floated straight into centre-back Tyrone Mings, who had ghosted into the six-yard box unmarked. However, his side-footed effort was straight at Mark Flekken and comfortably saved.

The final chance of the half came when Wissa put the ball in the back of the net having been sent through by Bryan Mbeumo, but the linesman’s flag had been raised for a while, indicating the Bees man was offside.

Watkins opened the scoring three minutes after half-time. A Ramsey pass sent the former Bee down the left, which saw him carry the ball a long way, before firing low towards Flekken's near post. The shot took a slight deflection off Collins' leg before it went through the keeper's legs and into the back of the net.

It was almost 2-0 less than 60 seconds later, with Watkins the creator this time. He squared to Morgan Rogers inside the penalty box, who fired home from close range. However, VAR ruled that Watkins had mistimed his run and was offside.

The Bees weren't awarded a penalty when Schade broke into the box and was closed down by both Matty Cash and Axel Disasi. The former headed the ball clear but the latter wiped out both his team-mate and Schade, but the referee nor VAR thought it was a spot-kick.

Lewis-Potter hit the post with 20 minutes to go. Some good hold-up play from Wissa saw him lay it off to the English left-back; he struck the ball from outside the box with his right foot, only to see it crash back off the woodwork.

VAR checked another potential Brentford penalty as Disasi crashed into the back of Schade but, again, it was waved away by the officials.

Jensen and Damsgaard linked up superbly as the west Londoners continued to push for an equaliser. They worked it to Schade who fired an effort at Robin Olsen, but it was parried away superbly by the Swedish goalkeeper.

Brentford then had a flurry of efforts on the Villa goal and, somehow, one of them didn't find the back of the net. Kristoffer Ajer and Nørgaard both tried their luck multiple times, but some good defending from the visitors preserved their clean sheet.

Watkins had a golden opportunity to net his brace with five minutes to go. He was played through one-on-one with Flekken, but bizarrely tried to chip the Brentford goalkeeper, who stayed standing and caught the ball comfortably.

The final chance of the game came from a Damsgaard corner, which deflected off a Villa player and inches wide of the far post, before the referee signalled for a goal kick.

Brentford: Flekken; Ajer (Ji-soo 90+3), Collins, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter; Nørgaard, Janelt (Jensen 75), Damsgaard; Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade

Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Mee, Yarmoliuk, Konak, Maghoma, Morgan, Fredrick

Aston Villa: Olsen; Konsa, Disasi, Mings, Digne; McGinn (Kamara 61), Tielemans; Bailey (Cash HT), Rogers, (Malen 90+3) Ramsey (Rashford 68); Watkins

Subs not used: Zych, Torres, García, Maatsen, Bogarde

Attendance: 17,171

Frank: We deserved more

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank discussed the west Londoners' narrow home defeat to Aston Villa.

“In many ways, it was an even game," said Frank. "The first half was very even, neither team could really break the deadlock and there were not many decisive moments.

“In the second half, they scored the goal with the deflection which helps. Other than that, we were completely on top in the game.

“We tried crosses into the box and created a lot of dangerous situations, but didn’t have the killing touch on the night. It was a game where I think we deserved much more than what we got."

'It didn't fall for us today', says Pinnock

Brentford centre-back Ethan Pinnock reflected on the Bees' loss on Saturday evening.

"It was a tight game. The first half was fairly even and we were well within the game," he stated.

"We conceded early in the second half but, after that, we stepped up, created some good chances, got ourselves into some good positions, but it didn't fall for us today."

He added: "Overall, we defended well. They've got a lot of good attacking players, one-v-one players, creative players and, for most of it, we contained it.

"Looking at the other side of it, it was just about trying to nick a goal, which we didn't manage to do today."