Ollie Watkins returned to haunt former club Brentford with the decisive strike as Aston Villa recorded a 1-0 win at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The England striker, who left west London in 2020, was subjected to jeers by the home fans as his clinical finish saw Villa continue their hunt for European qualification.
Villa, in seventh, now sit two points off fourth-place Manchester City, who were handed a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Minutes after John McGinn’s lapse of concentration in his own box almost gifted the hosts an opener, a counter-attack sparked by Mikkel Damsgaard almost saw the Dane add to his 10 assists for the season.
The midfielder’s perfectly-weighted touch to release Yoane Wissa was interrupted by an offside flag moments after Villa were able to scramble the ball away from danger.
Villa, on track to advance into the quarter-finals of the Champions League after Tuesday’s first-leg 3-1 win over Club Brugge, began to warm to the task and looked dangerous from set-pieces.
Chelsea loanee Axel Disasi pounced on a loose ball from a corner and forced Mark Flekken into action with a close-range low stop before a terrific bit of skill from Youri Tielemans created the half’s best chance.
The Belgium international had ample time on the ball and dropped a shoulder before finding his way into the area before shooting straight at Flekken.
Villa’s spark continued after the interval where the clinical Watkins buried his first chance of the match.
Tielemans was instrumental again as he turned under pressure and set Morgan Rogers away, with the attacking midfielder feeding Watkins, who crept his effort inside the near post from a tight angle.
Villa had two strikes disallowed in their 4-1 defeat to Crystal Palace last month and their misfortune struck again when they were denied another from the restart.
Watkins’ pace was utilised once again as he was played in behind and unselfishly gave Rogers a straightforward six-yard finish, although VAR deemed the striker to have started his run too soon as Brentford were handed a lifeline.
Unai Emery turned to the bench in the form of Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford but it was Brentford who pushed the tempo with Keane Lewis-Potter’s effort hitting the post before Watkins was left red in the face when his chipped one-on-one effort with Flekken was simply scooped up by the goalkeeper.
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