Having blown open the Premier League title race, can Aston Villa sustain their own challenge? Brentford seemed to have brought Villans’ dreaming to a halt, as Thomas Frank’s team first dulled their attack and then scored through Keane Lewis-Potter. But once reduced to 10 men after Ben Mee’s red card, they could not resist Villa’s surges and self-belief.
Aston Villa thus celebrate a first win at Brentford since February 1953, the same week Disney released the original Peter Pan feature-length cartoon. A first Villa title challenge of the 21st century is no fairy story, although this encounter featured x-rated tackles, 10 outfield bookings and three off-field amid repeated heavy aggro, including during the celebrations of Ollie Watkins’s winner against his former club.
