Aston Villa v Brentford: Villa and Bees to resume rivalry after melee fines

That temperament will be tested tomorrow when they face Brentford for the second time in the Premier League this season, aiming to quickly move on from Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat at Manchester City.

December’s first meeting with the Bees saw Villa claim a 2-1 victory but is remembered most for what happened after Ollie Watkins headed an 85th-minute winner against his former club. Two large-scale player confrontations, the first sparked by the striker pointing at a supporter in the GTech Stadium crowd he claimed had been abusing him all match, led to both clubs being charged by the FA.

Villa were fined £225,000, later reduced to £180,000 on appeal, while the hosts had to pay £175,000 for their part in melees which saw visiting midfielder Boubacar Kamara sent off for shoving opponent Yehor Yarmolyuk and banned for three matches.

Emery, who was himself booked for leaving the technical area in an attempt to calm the situation, held a team meeting at Bodymoor Heath the following week to discuss player conduct. Goalkeeper Emi Martinez was spoken to individually after the match after playing a key role in the chaos along with Brentford striker Neal Maupay, who he at one point lifted up by his shirt.

Villa are known to have been hugely unhappy with the home side’s conduct at the time. The Bees had defender Ben Mee sent off for a studs up challenge on Leon Bailey, while defender Pau Torres sustained a foot injury from which he has only recently fully recovered from what the visitors felt was another poor challenge.

Yet any lingering bad blood must now be forgotten for what is another vital match as Villa pursue a top-four finish, Emery’s decision to make large-scale changes for Wednesday’s trip to City having further raised the stakes.

With Ollie Watkins missing through injury and John McGinn still suspended, the head coach opted to also keep Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans and Torres on the bench at the Etihad. When Martinez pulled out 50 minutes before kick-off through illness, it further added to the sense Villa were fielding a second-string side, even though his replacement Robin Olsen performed admirably against the Phil Foden-inspired champions.

Comparisons with Martin O’Neill’s infamous Moscow surrender would be grossly unfair. City are world champions and Emery’s Villa, who were playing their second of seven matches in 23 days, were already weakened through injury. Their strongest possible line-up would likely have lost in any case.

Even so, the selection marked a change in mindset and defeat slowed momentum gained from last weekend’s win over Wolves. A clearly calculated move, Emery needs it to now pay off against the Bees.

“We will play a lot of matches in the next week’s, starting on Saturday against Brentford and then in the Conference League with Lille,” he said.

“It was important to be intelligent playing against Man City. Brentford and Saturday is now our focus.”