Late goals from Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins secured a dramatic late victory for Aston Villa at Brentford after Bees defender Ben Mee had been sent off 20 minutes from time.
Keane Lewis-Potter had opened the scoring for the hosts at Gtech Community Stadium but the game turned on its head after Mee was dismissed for flying into Leon Bailey in the 71st minute – referee David Coote upgrading to a red card after seeing the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Moreno equalised in the 77th minute with Watkins completing the turnaround eight minutes later, before Villa midfielder Boubacar Kamara was also shown a red card deep into stoppage time for violent conduct.
The victory kept Unai Emery’s high-flying side within a point of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Villa impressed in the early stages, Spanish full-back Moreno using his quick feet to test Mark Flekken before he sending another effort over the bar soon after.
The Bees failed to convert a golden opportunity of their own after eight minutes. Makeshift left-back Vitaly Janelt delivered a perfect cross to Mikkel Damsgaard, who had a free shot on goal, but the Dane’s effort fell kindly for Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez.
The visitors were in the ascendancy and enjoyed dangerous counter-attacks through Jacob Ramsey and the pacy Watkins.
Ramsey fluffed the chance of the match so far in the 27th minute when Watkins nodded Ramsey through on goal, the midfielder scuffing his shot wide.
Brentford almost made Villa pay for their missed opportunities in the 39th minute when a first-time ball in behind Matty Cash unleashed Damsgaard who drove forward and produced a great cross, but striker Yoane Wissa was unable to tap home.
The hosts’ persistence was rewarded just before the interval, however. Saman Ghoddos whipped in a dangerous corner, with the alert Lewis-Potter eventually managing to strike the loose ball home.
Wissa’s effort was ruled out for offside shortly after the restart and Ramsey’s spectacular solo effort attempt was saved by the acrobatic Flekken.
Christian Norgaard was lucky to stay on the pitch early in the second half, yellow-carded for a studs-up challenge on John McGinn which avoided further sanction from VAR.
Thomas Frank’s men should have doubled their advantage in the 64th minute when, from a short corner, Damsgaard’s first-time cross caught Villa flat-footed, but Wissa’s header was kept out by Martinez.
The game swung in Villa’s favour when Mee launched himself into Bailey, connecting with the winger’s ankle rather than the ball.
Referee Coote initially showed the centre-back a yellow card but, after being sent to the pitchside monitor, overturned the decision and produced a straight red card for serious foul play.
Villa soon capitalised on the extra man, the tricky Bailey cutting in on his favoured left foot and floating a dangerous curled cross onto the head of Moreno at the back post.
And eight minutes later the visitors were ahead, Ramsey’s corner getting a fortunate flick-on and former Brentford striker Watkins heading home before celebrating in front of his old fans.
The celebration caused an on-pitch stir, with the referee brandishing yellow cards to Ezri Konsa and Ghoddos before Kamara was dismissed following a scuffle with Yehor Yarmoliuk.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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