BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Danny Ings scored twice in the opening 14 minutes as Aston Villa bounced back from the sacking of manager Steven Gerrard with a dominant 4-0 Premier League win over Brentford at a jubilant Villa Park on Sunday.
Villa, who fired Gerrard after Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Fulham left them 17th in the table, took the lead just over a minute into the game when Leon Bailey hammered home a first-time shot from a well-worked corner.
Bailey turned provider a few minutes later, sliding the ball into the path of the unmarked Ings for him to rifle it into the net, much to the delight of caretaker boss Aaron Danks.
Things went form bad to worse for the visitors when Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer pulled on the shirt of Tyrone Mings to concede a penalty in the 12th minute, and Ings slammed the spot kick straight down the middle to make it 3-0.
Ollie Watkins got the fourth in the 59th minute but it took him three efforts to do so as David Raya saved the first and the second hit the post before he buried the ball in the back of the net via the foot of Ethan Pinnock to complete the rout.
Villa’s third win in 12 league games lifts them to 14th spot in the table on 12 points, while Brentford, who held Chelsea to a scoreless draw in midweek, are 10th on 14 points.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Edmund Blair)
