Aston Villa 0-1 Brentford: Dango Ouattara secures narrow win for Bees despite Kevin Schade red card
Report and free match highlights as Brentford beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park; Dango Ouattara gave the Bees the lead four minutes after Kevin Schade was sent off for kicking out at Matty Cash; Tammy Abraham had a goal disallowed by VAR on his second debut for the club
Sunday 1 February 2026 17:41, UK
VAR controversially disallowed Tammy Abraham's equaliser for Aston Villa on his second debut for the club as 10-player Brentford held on for a narrow 1-0 win.
The Bees were reduced to 10 following a moment of madness from Kevin Schade when he kicked out at Matty Cash but found the perfect response when Dango Ouattara fired them ahead four minutes later, in what was a frantic end to the first half.
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Tammy Abraham, making his second Villa debut in the starting line-up alongside Douglas Luiz, thought he had marked his return to the club with a swift equaliser after the restart, only to see it controversially ruled out following a lengthy VAR delay due to the ball going out of play in the build-up, 19 seconds before it went in.
"I think it is not so fair but we must accept it," Unai Emery told Sky Sports when asked about the decision after the game. To which Brentford boss Keith Andrews added: "If the ball was out, the ball was out. That was my take on it."
With their lead restored and the numbers in Villa's favour, Brentford sat deep throughout the second half and frustrated their opponents, with Caoimhin Kelleher only being called into action to deny the half-chances from Luiz, Cash and Morgan Rogers that a compact defensive performance limited them to.
A third victory for Brentford against Villa in the season, after winning 1-0 in August and knocking Unai Emery's side out of the Carabao Cup, now moves them into seventh, four points off Chelsea in fifth.
Villa, meanwhile, missed the chance to close to within four points of leaders Arsenal in the title race.
The frantic four minutes that secured the win!
Emery: Villa tried everything vs 'resilient' Brentford
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports:
"They competed fantastically. We tried everything but they have the habit to defend with their experience in the Premier League.
"When they needed to play defensively, they did fantastic. They were resilient and we tried everything.
"We scored one goal but VAR was there, we must accept it and do analysis overall how we are now.
"Last two matches at home we lost to Everton and Brentford, we can feel frustrated but keep going."
Andrews: We had to dig deep
Brentford boss Keith Andrews speaking to Sky Sports:
"We knew we'd have to defend for large parts of the game. We got the goal, which was amazing from the players, we always have that threat.
"We wanted to start the second half being able to attack but the boys had to dig deep. It's a result we deserved, I felt a clean sheet was absolutely deserved for the efforts."
On Villa's disallowed goal: "If the ball was out, the ball was out. That was my take on it."
Story of the match in stats...
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