Aston Villa’s wait for home win goes on after Ajer hits back for Brentford

Kristoffer Ajer spent a chunk of the extended international window fielding questions about the state of mind of his Norway teammate Erling Haaland and perhaps in recent weeks he also picked up some finishing tips. Two minutes after John McGinn’s shot cannoned in via Ajer’s calf, the centre-back strode forward in the Villa box and kept three defenders at arm’s length before scoring the equaliser, his shot also catching a nick off a defender, this time Victor Lindelöf.

For the second time in the game, one team cancelled out the other within two minutes, just 88 seconds between Yehor Yarmolyuk’s opener, born from Jaidon Anthony pressing Tyrone Mings, and Nicolas Jackson’s simple equaliser. It was a strange, seesawing and tempestuous game and a busy one for Ajer, who was also booked late on for questioning a decision by the referee, Craig Pawson, who managed the impressive feat of drawing ire from both sets of supporters.

Unai Emery had dipped into expletive to make it clear he was not overly enamoured with Villa’s previous home performance, describing their display in defeat to Nottingham Forest as “very shit”, and his side’s failure to hold on to the lead against Brentford extended their winless record since the Villa Park revamp left the ground with just three stands in play.

This feisty draw also maintained Keith Andrews’s fine, unbeaten record against Emery across four meetings, though the visitors also had chances to snatch victory with the left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf’s delivery into the box keeping Villa’s defenders on their toes and the Brazil striker Igor Thiago a constant threat.

Brentford, who remain unbeaten in the league this season, seized the lead when Anthony pressured Mings into a loose pass and Kevin Schade located Thiago, whose cross was cleared by Lindelöf to the edge of the box. Yarmolyuk hammered the ball in but Villa quickly replied. Emi Buendía’s shot deflected off Jannik Schuster and Jackson nipped around the back of Ajer to finish unmarked from the six-yard box. Buendía missed a chance to gain the lead in the first half, crashing to his knees after Michael Kayode, fresh from scoring on his Italy debut during the break, superbly blocked Johan Manzambi’s low strike.

Caoimhín Kelleher made a brilliant, instinctive double save on the verge of half-time to deny Jackson and then McGinn and after the interval his opposite number was called into a fine save, Zion Suzuki pushing wide a Schade volley. Emery clenched both fists and momentarily basked in the joy of Villa taking the lead on 77 minutes. Manzambi had the coolness of mind to locate McGinn, who celebrated by dragging his shorts high above his waist in a retort to the chants from the away end about his weight. But a roaming, towering Ajer had the final say at the end.