Brentford extended their unbeaten Premier League start by fighting back twice to earn a 2-2 draw at Villa Park, denying Aston Villa a first home victory of the season. The visitors arrived as one of only four sides still without a defeat and left having stretched that run to eight matches across the current and previous campaigns.
Unai Emery’s team made the worst possible start, falling behind after just 10 minutes when Yehor Yarmoliuk opened the scoring. The response was almost immediate: Nicolas Jackson equalised only 88 seconds later, netting for the second successive game. The contest remained level at the interval before late drama. Villa captain John McGinn appeared to have secured the points in the 77th minute with a strike that took a heavy deflection off Kristoffer Ajer and beat Caoimhín Kelleher. Once again the reply was swift. Jaidon Anthony set up Ajer, who made amends for the earlier deflection by slotting home the equaliser two minutes later.
The scoreline only partially reflected the character of the afternoon. The match was physical and fiery throughout, with seven yellow cards issued as tempers frayed in a contest that never settled. Brentford were also stretched by injuries: Kevin Schade picked up a shoulder problem and Jannik Schuster was withdrawn at half-time.
Villa will be disappointed to leave empty-handed again on their own pitch after losing their previous two home games. They pressed until the final whistle but could not find a winner. For Brentford, the point continues an encouraging opening to the campaign, even if manager Keith Andrews felt there was more on offer.
“Torn to be honest,” Andrews said afterwards. “I liked a lot today—spirit, grit, determination. There was evidence of rustiness which is understandable… the boys have been away for three weeks… Then we had Kevin’s injury, Jannik wasn’t right and came off at half-time, so we got tested today. But we’re also up against a team who I thought were just starting to click before the international break. But the fact that we’re disappointed coming away from home to a Champions League team who spend big money tells you a lot.”
He added that the side had struggled at times to rediscover its rhythm after the international break, yet the effort remained high and he felt they could have snatched a win. “We’ve started well and we’re content with a lot of aspects of what we’re doing… We want to keep pushing hard and we are disappointed we could’ve played a bit better and maybe the result was there for us if we’d tidied up a few aspects of our game.”
BBC reporter Laura Kenyon described the draw as fair overall, while noting Villa’s frustration at failing to claim their first home win. The score, she observed, did not fully capture the intensity of a real battle that left Brentford supporters travelling home with the comfort of a six-game unbeaten Premier League run.
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