Brentford 1-2 Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins scores winning goal against former side

Aston Villa came from behind to dramatically beat Brentford following a controversial red card for Bees defender Ben Mee.

But the game turned when Mee was sent off in the 71st minute for diving in and catching Leon Bailey on the ankle.

On-pitch referee David Coote, close to where it happened, originally handed Mee a yellow card but, following a check by video assistant referee Craig Pawson, was advised to check the incident and it was then upgraded to a red card.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank was furious with the decision and got booked, with Villa capitalizing on their player advantage six minutes later.

Bailey’s cross was headed in at the back post by Alex Moreno for an equalizer, before Watkins headed in an 85th-minute winner from Boubacar Kamara’s flick-on.

In a bad-tempered match, Kamara was then sent off to push the face of Yehor Yarmoliuk in stopping time, with Villa boss Unai Emery also endorsed.

Ugly scenes could get both teams in trouble

Both sides could well face disciplinary action from the Football Association for failing to control their players in a few unpleasant incidents during the closing stages of the match.

Brentford and Aston Villa each had a player sent off, six players were booked for Brentford, four for Villa, and both managers were bonded.

Watkins spent three years at Brentford between 2017 and 2020 and scored 49 goals for the Bees during that time.

However, he celebrated what proved to be the winning goal by standing inside the goal and pointing at a supporter, who may have been abusive towards the England striker.

Brentford’s Saman Ghoddos then shoved Watkins, which caused the first of the scuffles with players from both sides getting involved.

After that came farcical scenes between Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Brentford forward Neal Maupay.

Villa’s Bailey nearly scored an own goal with a misjudged backpass from nearly the halfway line, with the ball hitting the side netting. Maupay, looking to get the ball for the corner, then ran into Martinez, who made a lot of what appeared to be minimal contact.

The pair were then involved in another incident, with this time Maupay over-reacting to little contact from the goalkeeper.

Martinez tried to forcefully lift Maupay off the ground and that sparked pushing from both sides’ players with Kamara shoving the face of substitute Yarmoliuk and getting a red card.

Emery, who appeared to move Martinez away from the incident, was then bailed in a fiery end to the encounter.

More to follow.