Aston Villa survived a jittery second half to end an eight-match winless streak with a 3-1 home Premier League win over Brentford on Wednesday.
Villa sped into a 3-0 halftime lead but after Mikkel Damsgaard pulled one back early in the second half for Brentford, looked nervy and under pressure and will be relieved their visitors did not add any more goals.
Villa had raced into a comprehensive lead with three goals in a 13-minute burst after Morgan Rogers got their opener in the 21st minute.
An Ollie Watkins penalty and a volleyed effort from fullback Matty Cash added to the tally at Villa Park and saw the hosts enjoy a comfortable lead at the interval.
After finishing fourth last season, Villa had slipped into the bottom half of the table after their weekend loss at Chelsea but Wednesday’s success moved them up to seventh in the standings, ahead of Brentford who slipped to ninth.
Feelin' goood 😁 pic.twitter.com/roBZN3K0zp
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 4, 2024
Rogers hit a lofted effort into the net at the end of a surging run and a one-two with Watkins to open the scoring.
The home side were awarded a penalty four minutes later when Ethan Pinnock clipped Watkins from behind and the England international got up off the turf to convert the spotkick.
His low shot just evaded Mark Flekken in the Brentford goal as the keeper went the right way and got a touch on the ball but it was not strong enough to keep it out.
THUNDER
Rogers’ cross in the 34th minute was missed by Watkins, who was offside and might have disturbed the goalkeeper’s line of sight, allowing Cash to thunder in the third with a rasping finish from the right. VAR chose not to intervene and the goal was allowed to stand.
Brentford got their goal in the 54th minute as Damsgaard cut inside from the back post to belt the ball in from close range after Yoane Wissa flicked on Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.
Substitute Igor Thiago, working his way back from the knee injury that kept him out of the early part of the season, had a good chance for a second for Brentford in the 72nd minute but got underneath his shot and put it over the bar.
The result continued Brentford’s poor away form, with Thomas Frank's side having earned one point from seven matches on the road, but the Bees remain high on entertainment value with a total of 52 goals in their 14 league games this season – 27 for and 26 against.