Aston Villa were cruising without playing particularly well after Ollie Watkins struck to seemingly push old club Brentford further towards the Premier League relegation danger zone.
Morgan Rogers’ first goal for the club then added to the belief that this would be a routine stroll for Unai Emery’s men before it all went haywire for the Champions League chasers.
Villa were coasting early in the second half, but Matthias Jorgensen kick-started a Bees revival before Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa also struck to complete the turnaround and leave the hosts shell-shocked.
Villa regained their composure sufficiently to wrestle their way back into the game, and Watkins duly levelled 10 minutes from time, but it is now advantage Tottenham in the race for fourth place, and the Londoners will aim to rub that in when they hosts Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
The national media were pulling few punches in their appraisal of Villa’s efforts and what the result may mean for Emery and Co. Here is what they had to say…
Gregor Robertson – Sunday Times
A wild, helter-skelter — and error-strewn — afternoon ended with Aston Villa and Brentford sharing six goals and, ultimately, the spoils. Yet if Unai Emery’s Villa side are beaten to the fourth and Champions League football by Tottenham Hotspur in May, they will reflect upon a minute of madness here, on the hour, and wonder how their defence managed to take leave of its senses quite so dramatically.
John Aizlewood – The Telegraph
Ollie Watkins said that Aston Villa lacked a “big team mentality” as Unai Emery’s Champions League chasers surrendered a two-goal lead to draw against relegation-haunted Brentford.
Villa’s collapse, in which they conceded three goals in nine minutes before Watkins salvaged a point, is the latest slip in a challenging few weeks. In the first week of March, Villa won at Luton Town and seemed set for a Champions League slot. Now, they have won just one in five.
They remain in fourth, but are just two points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who have two games in hand. Villa still have to face Arsenal and Liverpool in tandem with a European campaign and their tailing off bears an uncanny similarity to head coach Unai Emery’s 2018-19 season at Arsenal, where they won just one of their final five games to miss out on the Champions League by a point.
Graham Hill – The Sun
Ollie Watkins silenced the Brentford boos – but Aston Villa are clinging on to their top four dream by a thread. The ex-Bees striker netted twice – but Unai Emery will know this is a game his side should have won.
Brentford fans, who had been giving Watkins stick from the away section, had the final word as the player left the field with a chant of “Champions League, you’re having a laugh.” They may have a point. The result means that Tottenham, three points behind Villa, now play twice before Emery returns to Arsenal.
The point will be welcomed by Brentford who edged away from the relegation zone. But Emery will not like what he saw as the top four advantage was handed to Ange Postecoglou.
Joe Bernstein – The Mail
Ollie Watkins ended up upset by Aston Villa throwing away a 2-0 lead rather than enjoying his personal brace to silenced Brentford fans and win his personal battle with England rival Ivan Toney.
Watkins should have been celebrating given he was barracked by travelling supporters who remembered his finger-jabbing goal gesture at the Gtech in December.
But Villa’s collapse when Brentford scored three times in nine minutes touched a nerve with the 18-goal striker. Unai Emery’s team could now drop out of the top four if Spurs beat Nottingham Forest.
Ironically, Toney – who is competing with Watkins to be Harry Kane’s understudy – also ended the game raging having been brought off the bench for the final 10 minutes. He remonstrated with team-mate Nathan Collins at full-time after failing to get the right pass to score a late winner.
Joe Rindl – The BBC
Aston Villa seemed to be cruising to just their second league win in five matches when Rogers doubled their lead with his first goal for the club. Over nine nightmarish minutes, though, they allowed Brentford to turn things around with three textbook crosses into the box, and were once again reliant on talisman Watkins to rescue them in the closing stages.
The England striker not only has the most goal involvements (goals and assists) in the Premier League this season, his 28 goal involvements is the most in a single season for a Villa player, overtaking Dwight Yorke’s tally in the 1995-96 campaign.
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