Ollie Watkins scored the decisive goal as Aston Villa won at Brentford to boost their top-four hopes
Aston Villa's Axel Disasi (right) tackles Brentford's Kevin Schade (centre) during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Aston Villa's Axel Disasi (right) tackles Brentford's Kevin Schade (centre) during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank claimed his side had “a big, big penalty” shout denied them as they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa at the Gtech Community Stadium.
In a game with huge ramifications for both side’s European ambitions, it was Villa who came out on top after Ollie Watkins struck early in the second half against his former club.
But Frank was adamant that the Bees should have been awarded a spot kick when Villa defender Axel Disasi tangled with Kevin Schade. The two players clashed again in the Villa penalty area later in the game too, but it was the first incident that sparked Franks’ derision.
He told Sky Sports: “I don’t understand how VAR can’t overturn it. Disasi clearly took Schade out. The second one was on the softer side, but you can’t go through the back of a player. The first one is a penalty.”
Villa, in seventh, now sit two points off fourth-placed Manchester City, who were handed a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Brentford stay in 12th, nine points outside the top four.
Villa boss Unai Emery was dismissive of the Brentford claims, telling the media immediately after the final whistle: “It’s clearly not a penalty”.
However, Frank was backed up by Bees forward Keane Lewis-Potter, who came closest to a goal for the hosts when he struck a Villa post in the second half.
He told Sky: “The first one is definitely a penalty. He clears him out. I have spoken to lads who have seen it back and it is a pen. VAR needed to check that.”
As for the game, Lewis-Potter added: "We deserved something from the game. The lads' heads are down in there. It is disappointing.
"In this league if you switch off you get punished. We tried to get back into the game, created chances, but it wasn't to be."
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