Brentford 0 Aston Villa 1 - Matt Maher analysis
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00:00Good evening from the GTEC Stadium where Villa have claimed one of their most important Premier League wins of the season.
00:07Ollie Watkins' 49th minute goal, enough to claim victory, just their second away from home in the league since October.
00:16And their first after a Champions League midweek since September, the Champions League curse finally cracked.
00:23After a pretty uneventful first half, it was a very eventful second half, Watkins giving Villa the lead when his shot took a nick off defender Nathan Collins and beat Mark Flecken.
00:33Two minutes later Villa thought they'd doubled the lead, Watkins set up Morgan Rodgers, VAR for the second time in London in the space of a fortnight ruled that Watkins was slightly offside in the build up.
00:45Hence the goal did not stand, second time that Morgan Rodgers has seen a goal ruled out that way.
00:50And from then on it was pretty much backs to the wall, Brentford had a few chances, not many, Villa defended stoutly which they haven't done enough really particularly on the road this season.
01:03It was bodies on the line, Axel Desarze at the thick of it, twice Kevin Sharder went down because of Desarze, the first one maybe Villa got away with that one.
01:14It was a bizarre incident really, Desarze taking out both Matty Cash and Sharder, referee Gerard Gillette ruled no penalty, VAR agreed.
01:21The second one was a bit more straight forward, it looked like Sharder made a bit too much of it and the referee was unmoved.
01:28Thomas Frank, the Brentford manager afterwards believed that the first one was a penalty, the second one not, even though Emery said neither were penalties.
01:39But it was also a big day for Robin Olsen, a much maligned goalkeeper, let's be frank, Sweden international, conceded 28 goals in his previous 12 Premier League appearances for Villa going back nearly three years.
01:51This was just his second clean sheet and it was him who was pushed towards the fans at the end by Taurang Nings.
01:57Olsen, there were a few nervy moments but his handling was generally good and he made a big save from Sharder at the end.
02:04So this was a big day for him and not the easiest Villa career as backup to Emi Martinez.
02:10Martinez was missing through injury, so was Marco Asensio who Emery later revealed both had suffered from muscle pain in training on Friday but he's hopeful both will be back against Club Brugge.
02:20In the meantime Villa say goodbye to the Premier League for about three and a half weeks now until they play at Brighton but they're up to seventh and still right in the mix for European football.