Not even scoring for the first time since last May could drag Aston Villa out of their worrying early-season slump.
Unai Emery’s men are out of the Carabao Cup, beaten on penalties by Brentford. Though this competition matters less to Emery than any other, defeat increases the pressure on Sunday’s trip to Sunderland in the Premier League.
Harvey Elliott made his full debut and Jadon Sancho featured for the first time in a Villa shirt but though Elliott scored, neither player could inspire a turnaround in their team, with Sancho missing a glorious chance with Villa 1-0 up.
Brentford, meanwhile, will be delighted with this after making 10 changes to their starting line-up.
Here Daily Mail Sport looks at the main talking points.
Brentford triumphed on penalties to continue Aston Villa’s nightmare start to the season
Villa break duck but problems remain
After five games without a goal dating back to the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on the final day of last season, it felt fitting that Villa should end their drought in such a scruffy way.
Vitaly Janelt dawdled, John McGinn picked his pocket and the ball ran to Harvey Elliott, whose weak shot somehow squirmed underneath Hakon Valdimarsson. Yet there remains something very wrong with this team, who lack confidence with the ball and are just as uncertain without it.
Unai Emery made seven changes but among them, only Ian Maatsen made a powerful case for selection for Saturday’s trip to Sunderland.
Harvey Elliott scored Aston Villa’s first goal of the season in the Carabao Cup against Brentford
Unai Emery made seven changes to his side but they continued to lack confidence on the ball
Brentford’s long throws do the trick again
The club who made long throws cool again continue to have success with them.
Fabio Carvalho’s stoppage-time equaliser at home to Chelsea last weekend happened when the Blues failed to deal with a missile from the flank.
Villa at least managed to win the first header when Frank Onyeka launched the ball from wide, but Pau Torres’ clearance was weak and fell perfectly for Aaron Hickey, who despatched it brilliantly on the volley for the equaliser.
Aaron Hickey drew Brentford level in the second half with a fine volley following a long throw
Sancho struggles
After signing Jadon Sancho on a season-long loan from Manchester United, Unai Emery said he wanted to help the attacker return to the England squad. At least Sancho is playing proper football again but on this evidence it will be a long road back.
In his first competitive match since scoring in the Europa Conference League Final last May, Sancho understandably lacked rhythm. Drifting inside off the left, Sancho failed to combine effectively with his former Borussia Dortmund team-mate Ian Maatsen during the first 45 minutes.
Sancho, 25, still has plenty of time to make an impact. Barring injuries, though, it is hard to see him starting at Sunderland on Saturday and then when Villa take on Bologna in the Europa League, Emery is unlikely to experiment either. When his chances come, Sancho has to take them. If only his shot early in the second half had crept the right side of the post.
Jadon Sancho lacked rhythm and on this evidence is facing a long road back to his best
Van den Berg looks the part
The only player retained in Brentford’s starting XI from that Chelsea game, Sepp van den Berg produced a classy display at the heart of the Bees’ three-man defence.
Though Villa’s Donyell Malen is not an orthodox centre-forward, he has played there many times at club and international level and yet at times, Van den Berg made him look a novice.
The Dutchman is strong, athletic and technically sound, and came close to scoring when his first-half header drew a fine save from Villa’s No2 goalkeeper Marco Bizot. Brentford do not often get their recruitment wrong and it would be no surprise to see Van den Berg sold at a huge profit soon.
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