sport news Aston Villa 3-3 Brentford: Ollie Watkins rescues a point with late equaliser ... trends now
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Returning England striker Ollie Watkins silenced the travelling fans by scoring twice in an epic see-saw contest at Villa Park.
Fourth-place Aston Villa looked on course for a regulation win when Morgan Rogers’ goal in the opening minute of the second half added to Watkins’ first-half header.
But in an incredible turnaround, the Londoners scored three times in nine minutes through Mathias Jorgensen, Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa to put themselves into an unlikely lead.
Watkins, who had missed the midweek defeat at Manchester City with a hamstring injury, then proved his side’s saviour by heading his 18th Premier League goal of the season from Leo Bailey’s deflected cross with 10 minutes left.
He would have been particularly pleased with this double having being barracked throughout the game by Brentford fans who remembered his finger-jabbing celebration towards them after scoring a late winner at the Gtech Stadium in December.
The great entertainment left Brentford still looking for their first league win in nine games while Villa could drop out of the automatic Champions League spots for the first time in a couple of months should Spurs beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Villa welcomed back big-hitters Emi Martinez, John McGinn and Watkins among six changes from the side that lost at The Etihad.
For Brentford, Mbuemo was included for his first start since December while Toney took a rare turn on the bench.
The two teams had played out a stormy encounter in London in December which included two red cards and Watkins upsetting Brentford fans with a finger-jabbing celebration after scoring a late winner..
The first half was comparatively quiet this time with Brentford sitting deep and trying to hit on the
