Aston Villa welcomed Brentford at Villa Park earlier this afternoon as they focused on picking up maximum points from this home clash. The Villans made a sloppy start to the game as they conceded the opening goal in the seventh minute when Ivan Toney found the back of the net from close range for the visitors.
However, Emiliano Buendia leveled the scoreline just six minutes later when he scored with a ferocious strike from 18 yards out. The two sides canceled each other out and went into the half-time interval with a 1-1 scoreline.
Both teams fought tooth and nail in the second 45 minutes but couldn’t find the all-important winning goal as the match ended 1-1 after the full-time whistle.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player performed during the contest against the Bees.
GK: Emiliano Martinez – 6/10
The Argentine keeper made one good save during the game but was a bit sloppy with his ball distribution. He will be disappointed after conceding such an early goal.
RB: Matty Cash – 7/10
Cash was strong in the air and defended valiantly inside his half. He even made a couple of energetic runs down the right-wing.
CB: Ezri Konsa – 6/10
He made a few important clearances and was accurate when passing the ball from the back. Konsa got replaced in the 88th minute.
CB: Axel Tuanzebe – 7/10
Tuanzebe won a lot of headers in the air and cleared his lines when needed. However, his efforts were not enough for Villa to keep a clean sheet.
LB: Matt Targett – 6/10
Targett made a couple of clearances but failed to make an impact in the Brentford half.
CDM: Douglas Luiz – 6/10
The Brazilian tried his best to protect his teammates at the back but failed to gain control of the midfield.
RM: Emiliano Buendia – 8/10
Buendia had his best game for the Villans today as he scored the all-important equalizer for them in the 13th minute. He caused a lot of problems for the Bees defenders and was probably Dean Smith’s best player on the field.
CM: Carney Chukwuemeka – 6/10
The 17-year-old struggled to get a foothold in the game and got substituted after the hour mark.
CM: Ashley Young – 6/10
Young was too slow at times when trying to win the ball and failed to influence the game going forward.
LM: Anwar El Ghazi – 7/10
He made a couple of key goal-scoring opportunities for others around him and made a few driving runs with the ball in the final third.
ST: Danny Ings – 6.5/10
He set up Buendia’s goal and didn’t get too many chances himself to find the back of the Brentford net.
Substitutes:
CM: Marvelous Nakamba – 6/10
He added some energy to Smith’s midfield.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 6/10
The English striker was Smith’s last throw of the dice.
CB: Kortney Hause – N/A
He didn’t get enough minutes to warrant a rating.
