Aston Villa 0-1 Brentford: Abraham goal ruled out on return as 10-man Bees survive | OneFootball

Tammy Abraham was denied a goal on his return as Aston Villa lost 1-0 to Brentford and missed the chance to go within four points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Dango Ouattara put his side in front against the run of play with a brilliant finish from a tight angle after Kevin Schade saw red for kicking out at Matty Cash off the ball.

Abraham had the ball in the net in the second half but it was ruled out by VAR spotting the ball going out of play, as Brentford impressively survived the siege to go seventh.

As it happened

Making his second debut in a Villa shirt, Tammy Abraham saw the game’s first chance go amiss with 15 minutes gone as Caoimhin Kelleher produced a good save one-on-one.

It was a stark reminder for the away side, given how cagily the game had started, of just how quickly the likes of Morgan Rogers can get his side on the offensive.

Brentford winger Dango Ouattara’s blushes were saved by the flag raising for offside after Igor Thiago released him through the middle and watched him drag the shot wide.

The home side unsurprisingly dictated proceedings, yet grew frustrated as as Emi Buendía hit a shot against his standing leg before Ezri Konsa flicked a volley wide on the end of a Douglas Luiz free kick.

Then in a bizarre moment, Kevin Schade hit the self-destruct button by lashing out with his boot at Matty Cash when getting back up from his challenge on the right-back.

But Ouattara, latching onto an accurate early ball from Kristoffer Ajer, saw his cross come straight back to him from Pau Torres before powering a shot into the top left to stun Villa Park.

Villa were level for all of three minutes as Abraham poetically smashed home on the follow up to Jadon Sancho’s effort from the edge of the box.

But a VAR review revealed the ball went out of play in their left-back position before the counter-attack, and his goal was wiped out.

The Englishman had another sight of goal on the end of Ian Maatsen’s low cross after quick build up play from Unai Emrey’s side, but his smart flick was blocked.

It remained one-way traffic up to and beyond the hour, as Kelleher was called upon again to bat away a snapshot from Cash inside the penalty area with the pressure ramping up.

Loanee winger Harvey Elliot was sent on for Villa to try and add some more firepower, and also had his vicious shot blocked before flinging himself at Rogers’ cross to no avail.

Leon Bailey, also on his return from a loan spell at Roma, curled a shot over the bar just as 10 additional minutes were signaled over the public address system.

The away side survived the onslaught of attacks, as their mission to keep defying the odds continued while putting a huge dent in Villa’s fading hopes of a title challenge.

Villa analysis: strong returns for Abraham and Luiz

Players returning for a second stint at their old club is nothing new, but two footballers doing it at one time definitely raises an eyebrow.

The arrivals of former Championship hero Tammy Abraham and creative midfielder Douglas Luiz are important for Villa’s continued success this season, with Ollie Watkins unavailable and Youri Tielemans ruled out for at least eight weeks.

With little to no time to settle back in before the Brentford test, how did the two get on?

Abraham saw the opening chance, but was quickly forced wide of goal and did well to test Caoimhin Kelleher who made the good decision to come off of his line.

He was denied his goal in cruel fashion for the tight call that the ball had factually gone out of play, and went close again just minutes later with a backheel. Safe to say the former Chelsea man, who scored 26 goals in 40 matches in the 2018/19 Championship campaign, could feel hard done by this afternoon.

As for his Brazilian colleague in holding midfield, he controlled the flow of the game in the middle. Luiz completed the most passes (30) in the first half while creating five chances throughout – also the most of any player.

He looked as composed on the ball as he did before his exit to Juventus in 2024, and also wasn’t far from the equalizer when he was kept out by the firm glove of Kelleher.

Brentford analysis: Kelleher proving worth as a first choice keeper

The impressive victory for Keith Andrew’s side was far from easy, as he may well have predicted going into the clash at Villa Park.

While Dango Ouattara’s goal was ultimately the difference, the one-man disadvantage left his side’s rearguard much to do in order to survive the 10 additional minutes.

And instrumental to that was Caoimhin Kelleher, making five important saves and preventing 1.05 goals – in other words, Brentford would have walked away with a point without him.

It compounds Kelleher’s successful start to life at Brentford since his summer move from defending champions Liverpool, before which he showed mere flashes of his quality as their dedicated cup goalkeeper.

Producing 56 saves from 85 shots before this afternoon, the 27-year-old has recorded a save percentage of 69.4% – not far from Mark Flekken’s record of keeping out north of two thirds of the shots he faced during his stint in London.

For Brentford boss Andrews, this didn’t come as a surprise.

He said: “ I knew he’d suit the club and the, the environment and the way things work around here. I just think he’s relished having that number one, and he’s grown month to month.

“He’s, he’s becoming a better keeper. He’s establishing himself and the relationships he’s building with his back four, and his, his performance levels have been very, very high.”

With another hard-fought clean sheet away to Aston Villa, taking his tally for the season up to six, the Irishman is playing at the peak of his powers.