Premier League release statement after Brentford v Aston Villa drama
Ollie Watkins’ goal handed Aston Villa a 1-0 victory over Brentford on Saturday.
Aston Villa climbed to seventh place in the Premier League table with the victory at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Unai Emery’s side are knocking at the door of the top four as they trail fourth-placed Manchester City by just two points.
Ex-Bees striker stung his former club as Watkins struck a hard and low shot which beat Brentford keeper Mark Flekken as this goal proved to be the only goal of the match.
VAR drama in Brentford vs Aston Villa
Villa took the lead via Watkins in the 49th minute. Almost immediately, Morgan Rogers doubled the visitors’ lead as Watkins picked out Rogers with a pass and the Englishman slotted the ball past Flekken into the net.
However, drama ensued as there was a possible offside call. It was incredibly close and VAR intervention was needed to check offside leading to the goal.
| Match Stats | Brentford | Aston Villa |
| Possession | 60% | 40% |
| Total Shots | 13 | 12 |
| Shots on Target | 3 | 4 |
| Big chances created | 0 | 2 |
After VAR intervention, Rogers’ goal was cancelled as Watkins was marginally offside when Rogers played the ball to him. Brentford escaped as they had nearly conceded twice within a couple minutes’ span.
The Premier League released a statement explaining the goal overturning decision.
The statement said: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Watkins was in an offside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
Donyell Malen frustration amid Villa loan arrivals
Malen joined Villains in the January transfer window, joining them on a permanent deal from Borussia Dortmund. Malen was expected to be a first team regular in the attack but the arrivals of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio have overshadowed the Dutch attacker.
Despite arriving at Villa Park before Rashford and Asensio, the former Dortmund man has just played 235 minutes under Emery. In comparison, Asensio has clocked 338 minutes and Rashford has played 371 minutes in an Aston Villa shirt.
Even against Brentford, where Asensio was unavailable because of injury and Rashford started from the bench, Malen did not get a start. Emery started with an attack of Jacob Ramsey, Leon Bailey and Watkins.
Malen has not been able to create the impact that Rashford and Asensio have created in such a short span of time, and maybe that is the reason why Emery has not preferred starting Malen.