Ollie Watkins boosts Aston Villa’s top-five hopes with victory at Brentford

The Premier League’s middle is where the juice remaining in the season is likely to be squeezed from. On Saturday night the Gtech was a grindhouse, two teams with Europe on their mind, scratching and scraping at each other.

For Unai Emery, playing Champions League football while aiming to return to the top five resembles building an aeroplane in mid-flight. To compete for the top five and maintain the dream state that playing in the competition has given fans and staff alike, Villa must improve their away form. Having failed to win any of their games following Champions League away trips, Ollie Watkins’ goal was vital for the domestic challenge ahead.

For Thomas Frank’s team, there is probably now far too heavy traffic to navigate if his club are to play continental football. While their fans bemoaned refereeing, injuries and fatigue have curbed the Brentford whirlwind of early season.

With midweek’s home return leg with Club Brugge to consider, despite holding a 3-1 lead, Emery’s selection was risk-averse, Emi Martínez and Marco Asensio left back in Birmingham. The inspirational Argentinian’s first Premier League absence of the season, with a back injury, brought in Robin Olsen in goal. Villa have had a mixed record when the Swede had played, with 17 goals conceded in seven starts. Asensio, rather than Marcus Rashford, who began his evening on the bench, has been the revelatory January signing, scoring five goals in the previous four appearances.

Not that a forward line of Morgan Rogers, Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey supporting Watkins, booed on every touch against his old club, was short of quality. Their selection left John McGinn and Youri Tielemans covering midfield. Neither is a natural anchorman, and early on McGinn was twice caught dallying in his own box as Brentford engaged the highest of presses, giving rise to panic stations, Olsen hardly looking in command of his penalty area.

Both teams’ desire to play the ball out from the back appeared their opponent’s best attacking opportunity. From such a transition, Ramsey whipped a right-foot shot that Mark Flekken saved well. Both possess dead-ball expertise, too, and Tyrone Mings might have done better than hit a chipped Tielemans free-kick right at Flekken.

Brentford exerted pressure, too, but created little of note in a low-amped first half where each team were trying to draw the other out but the better chances continued to fall Villa’s way. Tieleman seized on a loose ball to force another save from Flekken, and soon after nodded down Ramsey’s cross, forcing Ethan Pinnock to hack behind. On the sideline, Emery, clad in black, was unimpressed with his team’s chance conversion. McGinn, meanwhile, was given a yellow card for a flailing elbow on Yoane Wissa that doubled as a tactical foul, preventing a counter.

Ollie Watkins celebrates scoring against his former club. Photograph: Harry Murphy/AVFC/Aston Villa FC/Getty Images

Frank’s team, once boasting the best home record in the Premier League, have struggled at the GTech of late, winless in the previous six. Their defending was decidedly lax, positively statuesque, when Watkins burst away to score within four minutes of the restart.

If Flekken was unlucky with the deflection for the goal, VAR favoured Brentford when a markedly similar attack saw Watkins offside by the width of his white boots before setting up Tielemans to score. Dropping behind, and Watkins being the goalscorer, after last season confronting a fan in the act of scoring a late winner, injected some fight into Brentford and their supporters. With Wissa leading the line, Bryan Mbeumo was being double-teamed on the right, Keane Lewis-Potter’s overlaps down the left finding far more space.

McGinn was withdrawn for Boubacar Kamara, Wednesday kept in mind as well as the hope of locking down midfield though Brentford survived a penalty call when Matty Cash and Axel Disasi clattered into Kevin Schade. On came Rashford for Ramsey, far less involved beyond the break, as Emery reverted to a counterattacking approach.

That meant having to survive the type of onslaught that Brentford can exert on opponents when they build up a head of steam. Watkins had his chance to seal it, but could only chip the ball to Flekken after Lewis-Potter had cracked the post when laid up by Wissa. Disasi’s shove on Schade resembled a penalty offence only to be waved away by the referee Jarred Gillett.

Could Olsen double his clean-sheet collection? There were plenty of panic stations in the Villa box. A Christian Nørgaard header was the last Brentford could offer.