Premier League: Brentford 3 (Schade 56, Thiago 78, 90+6) Newcastle United 1 (Barnes 27)
Newcastle are still without an away win this season after Brentford won a chaotic and controversial encounter 3-1.
The Magpies, who have not tasted victory on the road since April, took the lead through Harvey Barnes.
But they quickly found themselves caught up in a maelstrom of long throws, VAR controversies and a red card – all in a day’s work for the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium.
RM Block
After Kevin Schade equalised referee Stuart Attwell and VAR Paul Tierney took centre-stage, the former denying Brentford what looked a clear penalty for a foul by Dan Burn – instead booking Dango Ouattara for a dive – and the latter surprisingly agreeing.
But, lo and behold, a few minutes later when Ouattara went down again under Burn’s challenge, Attwell this time pointed to the spot and showed the hapless Burn a second yellow card.
Igor Thiago rolled in the penalty and added a third in stoppage time to condemn Newcastle to more misery on their travels on the fourth anniversary of Eddie Howe’s appointment as manager.
Brentford set the tone for a breathless afternoon after a quarter of an hour when their brand of set-piece mayhem almost paid dividends.
Nick Pope scrambled to prevent Mikkel Damsgaard’s delivery from curling in at the far post and in the ensuing goalmouth scramble, Thiago’s shot was blocked.
It was Newcastle who took the lead in the 28th minute after Nick Woltemade helped on a cross from Jacob Murphy.
Barnes, only in the starting line-up due to an injury to Anthony Gordon, turned defenders Michael Kayode and Yehor Yemoliuk one way and the other before drilling a low shot through the legs of Bees goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Brentford almost equalised when Pope made a mess of punching clear a Kayode long throw, but Aaron Hickey’s drive was deflected wide.
Pope was at fault for Brentford’s equaliser, punching into thin air as Kayode’s throw was flicked on and Schade stooped to head the second ball into an unguarded net.
The controversy erupted when Ouattara tumbled, Burn protested his innocence and Attwell waved away Brentford claims for a spot-kick and flashed the yellow card instead.
Replays showed Burn had clearly made contact with Ouattara’s foot before he went down but Tierney upheld Attwell’s decision, “minimal contact” was the official explanation.
Then came the reprise; Ouattara brought down again by Burn. This one was maybe less convincing, but Attwell pointed to the spot.
Pope, who somewhere amid the bedlam had managed to get injured, was replaced by Aaron Ramsdale before the penalty, which was eventually rolled in by Thiago.
Newcastle went close to an equaliser, but Rico Henry slid in to prevent a tap-in for Anthony Elanga.
Instead their afternoon was summed up in stoppage time when a slide tackle by defender Malick Thiaw fell perfectly for Thiago to slot in number three.
Aston Villa 4 (Buendia 28, Onana 40, Barkley 77, Malen 82) Bournemouth 0
Aston Villa cruised to a fourth straight home Premier League victory brushing Bournemouth aside 4-0 at Villa Park.
Unai Emery’s side had only scored nine goals in the league coming into the match but put their goalscoring woes to bed to dispatch Andoni Iraola’s below-par Cherries with ease.
Emiliano Buendia’s sublime free-kick put them on track for a fifth win from six before Amadou Onana’s cracker from range doubled their lead.
Villa had to withstand a spell of Bournemouth pressure but Emiliano Martinez produced a string of fine saves to keep their lead intact, including a one-handed stop to deny denied Antoine Semenyo from the penalty spot after Morgan Rogers handled.
Villa then made the match safe as substitutes Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen struck to wrap up victory and deliver a first four-goal haul of the campaign.
Boubacar Kamara’s ball over the top of the Bournemouth defence caused a problem when Matty Cash latched on and lifted the ball over Djordje Petrovic but the Bournemouth keeper was able to parry away.
Petrovic was called into action again following a fast Villa start, Kamara’s effort from distance needed to be put behind for a corner.
Onana sloppily gave possession away to Alex Scott who was brought down by Kamara. But Marcus Tavernier blasted high and wide from the free-kick.
Villa made them pay from an identical position down the other end after Rogers was taken down by Alex Jimenez outside the box.
Buendia stepped up and dipped a beautiful free-kick over the wall which sailed past the onlooking Petrovic and into the net.
Villa were producing some high quality stuff and Bournemouth were in danger of going two behind when Watkins forced a point-blank save from Petrovic.
Villa were not to be denied a second just over a minute later though. Rogers produced some neat footwork down the left and rolled it to Onana who was waiting outside the box to slam his shot into the bottom left corner.
The visitors were looking to cut the deficit in half after the break. Scott forced a scrambling save from Martinez to stop his deflected effort from looping under the crossbar.
The Cherries ramped up the tempo and looked likely to get a goal back but Evanilson nodded on to the post.
They were given a an opportunity to halve the deficit when Rogers handballed inside the area but Martinez guessed right to keep out Semenyo’s low penalty.
That deflated Bournemouth and Villa sealed the points 13 minutes from time when Barkley flicked his head on to Cash’s corner and the ball looped into the net.
There was still time for Villa to get a fourth. Youri Tielemans lined one up from the edge of the box which took a nick off Malen and past Petrovic who was committed to diving the other way.
Nottingham Forest 3 (Sangaré 15, Gibbs-White 68, Anderson 90+1) Leeds United 1 (Nmecha 13)
Morgan Gibbs-White produced the perfect response to his England omission by helping Nottingham Forest to their first Premier League win since the opening day of the season.
Gibbs-White was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers, but reminded the German of his talent with a decisive goal in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Leeds.
The midfielder’s second-half header helped end Forest’s nine-game winless streak in the league as they secured three points for the first time under head coach Sean Dyche.
It was far from pretty as they had to come from behind, Ibrahim Sangare cancelling out Lukas Nmecha’s opener for Leeds.
Elliot Anderson’s late penalty sealed a vital triumph for Forest, who have now taken four points from their last two games and look to be heading in the right direction.
They are just two points behind Leeds, who have lost four out of their last five matches.
Heroic Forest fan Stephen Crean was saluted before the game after he was involved in last weekend’s Huntingdon train incident, suffering serious injuries protecting a young girl from the attacker.
And he watched his side make a promising start as Gibbs-White, feeling like he had something to prove, had a shot turned around the post by Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri.
Perri was in the thick of the action and soon after produced a miraculous save as he acrobatically clawed away Igor Jesus’ shot that took a wicked deflection off Joe Rodon.
That was a big moment as Leeds went down the other end and took the lead in the 13th minute.
Forest right-back Nicolo Savona was hesitant with a clearance, allowing Brenden Aaronson to slide in Nmecha. He still had work to do, but he fired a brilliant low show into the far corner.
The home response was swift and they were level two minutes later, this time Perri not covering himself in glory. The Brazilian could only palm Dan Ndoye’s cross out to Sangare, who slotted home from 12 yards.
Hopes for a goal-fest were misplaced as the first half descended into a scrappy affair with little other goal action.
Gibbs-White did test Perri again from the edge of the area but it was a comfortable save.
Forest almost took the lead three minutes after the restart when they went from back to front quickly, Ndoye advancing to the byline and picking out Jesus, whose shot was blocked by the legs of Jayden Bogle.
They were knocking on the door and Gibbs-White burst through it in the 68th minute, perfectly glancing home Omari Hutchinson’s cross from the right.
Leeds pushed for an equaliser and almost found it in the 79th minute as Dan James’ curling effort was beaten away by Matz Sels, with Bogle somehow putting the follow-up wide.
England midfielder Anderson killed the game from the spot in the 90th minute after the lively Hutchinson was fouled by Jack Harrison.
Crystal Palace 0 Brighton 0
Crystal Palace and Brighton played out a forgettable 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park to remain a point apart in mid-table in the Premier League.
There was little to separate the teams in terms of performance, with the visitors shading the possession statistics while Palace had more shots but fewer on target.
This was, in truth, the extent of the difference between them, with neither side deserving more than what they left with.
