Ollie Watkins blasted his teammates after they threw away a two-goal lead against Brentford at Villa Park. “I’m not belittling my team, I’m part of it. We need to somehow figure out when we’re 2-0 up how to shut up shop, It’s frustrating. We lacked that big-team mentality where they kill games off, which is really disappointing. Maybe we just don’t have that maturity yet or game intelligence.”
This isn’t the first time that we have thrown away two-goal advantages and it’s now an advantage to Tottenham Hotspur in the race for the top four.
Unai Emery opted to give many of his big stars a rest in the 1-4 defeat to Manchester City in mid-week so he will be very disappointed that his players let him and the fans down. Report: Aston Villa 3-3 Brentford
Villa made six changes to the startling line up including returns for Watkins and Emiliano Martínez. The surprise news came from the visitors as Ivan Toney was left on the bench due to a muscle injury.
Brentford got off to a bright start and had an early shout for a penalty when Leon Bailey challenged Sergio Reguilón but the referee stated that the Jamaican got the ball first.
Villa then dominated the ball but the visitors looked more dangerous on the break until Villa took the lead just after the half-hour mark. Watkins was able to get on the end of a John McGinn cross with a headed goal against his former club.
Emery’s side doubled their lead just after the break when...