Aston Villa have suffered a major hit in their Premier League title push after a shock 1-0 home defeat to 10-man Brentford at Villa Park.
Aston Villa saw their Premier League title ambitions dealt a serious blow after they slumped to a surprise 1-0 defeat against 10-man Brentford at Villa Park, with the visitors claiming their first-ever league win at the ground.
Brentford were forced to dig deep after Kevin Schade was shown the first red card of his senior career late in the first half, but they showed remarkable resilience to frustrate the hosts and secure a famous victory.
With Ollie Watkins sidelined through injury, January signing Tammy Abraham was handed his second Aston Villa debut and his first Premier League appearance since 2021. The striker, who enjoyed a prolific loan spell at the club in 2018/19, was sent clean through early on by Morgan Rogers but was denied by an excellent save from Caoimhin Kelleher.
Douglas Luiz was also making his second debut after returning on loan from Juventus, and he almost marked the occasion with an assist. His teasing free-kick found Ezri Konsa unmarked in the box, but the defender could not keep his effort on target.
Despite being handed a numerical advantage in the 42nd minute when Schade was dismissed for kicking out at Matty Cash, Villa found themselves behind at the break. Moments after the red card, Dango Ouattara stunned the home crowd by rifling a fierce left-footed strike into the far top corner for Brentford’s opener.
The hosts thought they had drawn level shortly after the restart when Abraham tapped in from Kelleher’s parry, only for VAR to rule the goal out after the ball was judged to have gone out of play in the build-up, sparking frustration around the stadium.
Villa pushed relentlessly in search of an equaliser, with Cash, Luiz and Rogers all testing Kelleher, but the goalkeeper stood firm alongside a disciplined Brentford defence. The result lifts Brentford up to seventh in the table, while third-placed Villa are left seven points adrift at the top of the Premier League.
