Dango Ouattara's goal proved decisive as Brentford made light of Kevin Schade's red card to earn an impressive 1-0 win at Aston Villa.

Brentford looked to be in trouble against the Premier League title hopefuls when Schade petulantly kicked out at Matty Cash in the 42nd minute and was dismissed for violent conduct.

However, they stunned Villa Park into silence one minute into first-half stoppage time, with Ouattara blasting into the far top corner after his attempted cross to Igor Thiago was blocked by Pau Torres and deflected back to him.

Making his first Villa appearance since the 2019 Championship play-off final, following his return in a permanent deal from Besiktas earlier this week, Tammy Abraham was denied an equaliser following a VAR review.

He pounced when Caoimhin Kelleher parried Jadon Sancho's shot to slot home in the 49th minute, but the goal was disallowed due to Leon Bailey's failure to keep the ball in play earlier in the move.

Though that incident took place near Villa's own corner flag, it was deemed to be part of the same attacking possession phase, so Abraham's celebrations were cut short.

Villa laid siege to Brentford's penalty area from there without truly creating a clear-cut opening, with Bailey and Torres wasting their best openings during 10 minutes of stoppage time.

While Villa trail leaders Arsenal by seven points, the win lifts Brentford to seventh in the table, five points off Manchester United in fourth. 

Data Debrief: Ouattara still undefeated as Bees hold firm

Ouattara remains unbeaten in the 11 Premier League matches in which he has found the net, for either Bournemouth or Brentford, with this the 11th instance (nine wins, two draws).

But Brentford's victory was clinched by a tremendous defensive performance after half-time, with Villa losing a Premier League game in which the other team received a first-half red card for the first time since April 2021 (1-2 versus Manchester City, John Stones sent off).

Villa completed 355 passes after the interval, their most in a single half of Premier League football since Opta records began in 2003-04.

But in truth, they did little with all their possession. They ended the game with 27 shots with an expected goals (xG) value of 1.98, but only hit the target five times.

Brentford accumulated just six shots and 0.53 xG, with Ouattara's strike having an xG value of just 0.1.