Aston Villa are only a point behind leaders Arsenal following a hard-fought 2-1 turnaround victory over Brentford in a dramatic match that featured a red card for both teams.

Following Ben Mee’s red card, late goals from Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins secured the win after Keane Lewis-Potter had put Brentford in front on the stroke of half-time

How the match unfolded

Both sides made changes, with Zanka, Mikkel Damsgaard and Mads Roerslev recalled for Brentford, while for Villa, Matty Cash, Moreno, Moussa Diaby and Jacob Ramsey were handed starts. 

Villa started brightly, but the first major opportunity fell Brentford’s way, with Damsgaard’s shot from Vitaly Janelt’s cutback saved by Emiliano Martinez.

Moreno had Villa’s best chance of the early exchanges, but he couldn’t get enough power on his shot after bustling through the Brentford defence.

Villa were in the ascendancy and three minutes later they crafted another chance as Jacob Ramsey fired wide after linking up with Watkins. 

But, in the 45th minute, Brentford took the lead. The Villa defence struggled to clear a corner and Lewis-Potter pounced on a bouncing ball to shoot past Martinez from 12 yards for his first Premier League goal.

The visitors began the second half on the front foot while Brentford remained a threat on the counter-attack. 

After Watkins had a shot blocked, Brentford could have easily doubled their lead but for a superb last-ditch challenge by Moreno. 

Then, in the 71st minute, the complexion of the match changed. Mee’s foul on substitute Leon Bailey resulted in the yellow card, but it was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review.

Just six minutes later, Villa capitalised on their numerical advantage to level, with Moreno heading in at the far post from Bailey’s cross. 

With 85 minutes on the clock, the turnaround was complete. Boubacar Kamara’s flick-on from a corner was met by the head of former Brentford player Ollie Watkins for his ninth Premier League goal of the season. 

Passions boiled over in the aftermath of Watkins’s goal against his former club. Neal Maupay and Martinez were shown yellow cards, while Kamara was sent off for violent conduct in the seventh minute of second-half added time. 

But Villa held firm to earn their 25th Premier League victory in 2023, their most top-flight wins in a calendar year in their entire history.

A fifth defeat from their last six matches drops Brentford down to 12th on 19 points. The Bees have now dropped 17 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, the most of any side and already their most in a single campaign in the competition.

Brentford report | Aston Villa report

Match officials

Referee: David Coote. Assistants: Tim Wood, Lee Betts. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Lee Betts.