Aston Villa are edged out by Villarreal in friendly defeat

France international Etienne Capoue scored the only goal late in the second half, pouncing on an error from Villa substitute Calum Chambers.

Villa bossed much of the game and twice hit the woodwork but were guilty of missing several good chances as Leander Dendoncker, Matty Cash and Jan Bednarek all got their first outings since returning from the World Cup.

Emery, as he has in every friendly during the break, named his strongest possible line-up, Emi Buendia returning to the XI after missing the 1-0 win over Chelsea through injury. The visiting line-up was similarly strong and included reported January target Arnaut Danjuma, along with one-time Villa loanee Pepe Reina.

Boubacar Kamara fashioned the first chance of the game, nipping in to intercept a pass before playing in Ollie Watkins, who curled his finish well wide.

It was bright stuff from Villa, Tyrone Mings briefly appearing to channel Olivier Giroud when he brought the ball down in the box, turned and fired a low shot against the base of the post. Watkins then had the ball in the net after latching on to a Buendia pass but saw the effort ruled out by an offside flag.

Villareal first threatened through Gerard Moreno but after getting a yard on Mings, the Villa defender recovered to block the shot. Watkins then stung the palms of Reina with a snapshot after bringing the ball down impressively on the edge of the box.

Just past the half-hour mark, Buendia came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock when his shot flicked off the boot of Kiko Femenia and crashed against the bar. Watkins was unable to convert the rebound.

The visitors were struggling to find any rhythm and when they did string a decent move together, Moreno swept home but like Watkins earlier had strayed just offside and saw the effort chalked off by an assistant’s flag.

Villa could not find the finish, Watkins ballooning an effort high and wide after finding space to run down the left early in the second half.

Watkins’ fruitless night ended on the hour mark when he was replaced by Danny Ings in one of six Villa changes. Ings had the chance to make an almost instant impact but sent his shot too close to Reina after being played in by Douglas Luiz.

Villareal had barely had an attack since the restart but with 13 minutes to go they went in front. Chambers’ pass out hit Capoue and the ball rebounded back to the visiting player off fellow substitute Nicolas Jackson before he finished low beyond Filip Marschall, who had replaced Robin Olsen in goal for the hosts at the break.

Villa (4-2-2-2): Olsen (Marschall HT), Young A (Cash 61), Konsa (Chambers 61), Mings (Bednarek 61), Digne (Augustinsson 61), Kamara (Dendoncker 61), Luiz (Raikhy 85), McGinn (Nakamba 85), Buendia (Archer 85), Watkins (Ings 61), Bailey (Young K 73).