Brentford Held as Villa Park Frustration Continues

Keith Andrews was left "torn" after his Brentford side continued their unbeaten Premier League run with a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Saturday.

In an enthralling encounter at Villa Park, the visitors struck first when Yehor Yarmoliuk gave Brentford the lead in the 10th minute. The advantage lasted barely a minute and a half, however, as Nicolas Jackson netted an equaliser just 88 seconds later.

Villa then edged ahead 13 minutes from time when John McGinn's effort took a massive deflection off Kristoffer Ajer. But the defender redeemed himself moments later, slotting home from close range to rescue a point for the Bees.

Mixed Emotions for Andrews

The result leaves Brentford sitting fourth in the Premier League table and extends their run without defeat in the competition. The Bees are now unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games, though Andrews' side have lost eight points from winning positions in the process — with only Bournemouth (nine) having surrendered more.

Despite the late equaliser, Andrews was candid about the balance between spirit and sharpness.

"[I am] Torn to be honest. I liked a lot today - spirit, grit, determination. There was evidence of rustiness, which is understandable, but I don't like to use that as an excuse, but the boys have been away for three weeks so it's trying to find the balance," said Andrews.

"Then we had Kevin's [Shade] injury, Jannik [Schuster] wasn't right and came off at half time, so we got tested today."

"But we're also up against a team who I thought were just starting to click before the international break. But the fact that we're disappointed coming away from home to a Champions League team who spend big money tells you a lot."

Brentford mustered an expected goals (xG) tally of 1.25 from 14 shots over the course of the match.

Emery Sees 'Fair' Result as Villa's Home Woes Deepen

For Unai Emery, the draw was a fair reflection of the contest — even as Aston Villa extended an unwanted record. Villa have now failed to win any of their opening three home games in a league campaign for the first time since 2015-16, when they went without a win in their first nine league matches at Villa Park (D3 L6).

"To draw at home is not a good result. I think we played a match with a lot of things improved from our last home match against [Nottingham] Forest. We created chances but conceded more chances than I expected," said Emery.

"Maybe the result is fair, but analysing how we are improving things, competing better, I can't tell nothing to the players about the match. We'll try to analyse again how we can improve even more. A better match than against Forest. Keep going forward."

"We tried, we pushed, we had chances but so did they. At the end we could've won, but also we could've lost."

Emery will hope for a change in fortunes when his side host Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Wednesday.