WHO needs Yoane Wissa when you have Dango Ouattara?
The 23-year-old winger scored what turned out to be a 12th-minute winner on his Brentford debut after joining from Bournemouth.
With Wissa left out of the squad again — with Newcastle having had two bids rejected — focus was on their club-record £42.5million buy.
And the Burkina Faso ace showed brilliant pace to motor past Pau Torres to go through one-on-one with Emiliano Martinez.
The Argentine keeper saved his first effort but the ball rebound straight to the Brentford man who made no mistake of firing home at the second attempt to give Keith Andrews his first win as boss.
And Outtara was cheered on from the stands by supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who donned a Bees jersey after filmmaker husband Matthew Vaughn was confirmed as a new minority investor in the club.
Brentford — who lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest last weekend — were the better side for most of this, particularly in the first half against a lethargic Villa.
It was not a happy return for Ollie Watkins, who barely had a sniff.
The striker spent three years at Brentford before his £28million move to Aston Villa in 2020.
He is still fondly remembered by Bees fans for his 50 goals in 128 starts for the club.
And he is certainly loved by the Villa fans too — having scored 75 goals in 185 Premier League games.
But Villa failed to give him any decent service in a frustrating afternoon which ended with Tyrone Mings limping around at the end after pulling up.
For Brentford it has been a difficult summer — losing boss Thomas Frank, star striker Mbeumo and captain Christian Norgaard.
But despite those worries, the Bees looked like their old selves.
Which was great news for Brentford investor and filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, who was at the game with his wife, model and actress Claudia Schiffer.
They almost got off to a flying start when Mikkel Damsgaard breezed past Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash far too easily before curling a shot just wide of Emiliano Martinez’s right post.
Villa were looking nervy early on but Kamara’s cross-field pass to John McGinn in acres of space was so wayward the ball went out for a throw-in.
And Brentford swept in front.
Quattara raced past Torres to go one-on-one with Martinez and netted at the second attempt after his first effort was saved despite the efforts of Cash to block.
Emery was forced to make a chance immediately after the goal with the injured Kamara being replaced by Emi Buendia.
Keane Lewis-Potter went crashing to the ground after Tyrone Mings appeared to catch the Brentford man with a high boot as he attempted to clear.
It appeared reckless but referee Tony Harrington only gave a foul and did not show any card.
Mings then came to Villa’s rescue with a brilliant point-blank block to deny Jordan Henderson’s rocket effort
Ukrainian midfielder Yehor Yamoliuk then had a pop from 35 yards but there was never any chance of him scoring his first Brentford goal in his 66th appearances.
Caoimhin Kelleher then pulled off a good save to deny McGinn.
Kevin Schade did well to put a block in to deny a thumping Youri Tielemans strike to deflect it wide,
The German then needed treatment and got his ankle strapped up.
Brentford, far from sitting back on their lead, continued to be positive going forward — while Villa lacked imagination in the final third.
The visitors were so poor with Buendia barely touching the ball before half-time.
And Villa were mighty lucky not to have gone 2-0 down when Damsgaard thought he had scored.
Martinez came out to collect Michael Kayode’s long throw before going down claiming he had been fouled by Nathan Collins.
But replays appeared to show the Brentford man had been fouled. However, VAR incredibly ruled Martinez had been “carelessly challenged”.
Even former England keeper Rob Green — working in the media at the game — questioned the decision.
After the break Villa finally created their first big chance.
Buendia broke free before feeding Morgan Rogers on the left side of the box.
The Villa ace took a touch before firing towards goal, but Michael Kayode makes a strong tackle to divert the ball out for a corner.
Emery’s side started the second half well.
And McGinn stood the ball up to the back post where Rodgers headed down for Buendia.
The Argentine’s bicycle kick flew over the bar.
And then Watkins teed up Amadou Onana but his side-footed effort was blocked,
Kelleher was trying to slow the game down, to take the sting out of Villa’s dominance, but got booked for time-wasting.
Brentford had switched to a back five and Emery decided to roll the die by making a double substitution.
Ian Maatsen and Danyell Malen came on for Lucas Digne and Onona.
But Martinez had to be alert to beat Igor Thiago to the ball after Schade tried to play the striker in.
Henderson got a standing ovation as he came off for Frank Onyeka.
Thiago then fired wide when he should have played a simple squared pass to Ouatarro who was in space.
Harrington waved away Brentford protests claiming Tielemans had handled in the box but replays showed Collins had headed against the Villa player’s back.
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