Aston Villa 3-1 Brentford: Unai Emery's team breaks eight-game winless streak with commanding win against the Bees

Nerves were quickly calmed at Villa Park as the home side surged into a three-goal lead within the first 35 minutes.

Morgan Rogers curled a stunner into the top corner to kickstart the onslaught, before Ollie Watkins netted the second from the penalty spot after being brought down by Ethan Pinnock.

Matty Cash then added the third with a volley at the back post, although questions were raised about the goal after Watkins appeared to drift offside and interfere with play just before the ball crept past Mark Flekken.

It was more of the same after the restart but Brentford would pull a goal back - against the run of play - just before the hour mark.

The ball fell to Mikkel Damsgaard in the box and he then danced past one challenge before firing a shot into the roof of the net.

Brentford took confidence from the goal but failed to breach the Villa defence again, as Emery's side ended their drought and moved into seventh place, leapfrogging their opponents in the process.

Watkins: We have full faith in Emery

Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins speaking to Amazon Prime:

"We started the game brightly and came out on the front foot. Early goal settled the crowd's nerves. We are calm in the camp and have faith in the manager that we can turn it around.

"One win takes us up into seventh, you can see how close it is. We need to focus on the next game and build some momentum. We want to create a fortress at home. Despite some dodgy results, this is something to build on."

Frank: Penalty decision went against us

Brentford boss Thomas Frank speaking to Amazon Prime:

"They were the best team and played well. We did not play well, bad combination. The decision went against us for the penalty and I'd like to know why it was a penalty. It was soft and did not meet the high threshold, in my opinion."

Story of the match in stats

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