Summer Series

Brentford and Aston Villa draw six-goal thriller

30 Jul 2023

Villa fight back from two goals down but Bees have final say in match featuring two goal-of-the-tournament contenders

Aston Villa and Brentford shared six goals in a thrilling draw in the penultimate match of the Premier League Summer Series.

AVL

3-3

BRE

In hot conditions at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, the Bees raced into a two-goal lead courtesy of a penalty from Bryan Mbeumo and a goal-of-the-tournament contender from Josh Dasilva.

However, a cooling break midway through the half allowed Unai Emery to pass on some instructions to his Villa players which immediately paid off.

When play resumed, Ezri Konsa, who gave the penalty away, showed incredible skill to run from deep inside his own half and score with a superb strike into the top-right corner against his former club.

Five minutes later, Moussa Diaby struck the equaliser for his second goal in as many matches since joining Villa.

Villa completed the turnaround through Matty Cash, who revealed post-match there is more to come from Diaby despite him scoring twice in only 116 minutes since signing.

"He's sharp as anything in training," Cash said. "We're yet to see the best of him!"

Brentford had the final say as they picked up a first point of the tournament thanks to Shandon Baptiste, who converted from close range after Keane Lewis-Potter's thunderous strike hit the crossbar.

The draw put Villa top of the table before Chelsea beat Fulham in the second match of the Maryland double-header to lift the trophy of the inaugural Summer Series.