Aston Villa 3-2 Burnley: 10-man Clarets suffer cruel defeat in game mired in controversy

Douglas Luiz’s 89th penalty handed Unai Emery’s side the win where all the major refereeing decisions appeared to go their way.

The Clarets were minutes away from securing a heroic point, but referee Stuart Attwell awarded Villa a soft penalty after Aaron Ramsey appeared to make minimal contact on Jhon Duran.

Vincent Kompany’s men had otherwise battled superbly in a game in which they arguably edged while it remained 11 vs 11 before Sander Berge was dismissed for two yellow cards.

Zeki Amdouni had previously equalised for the visitors after Leon Bailey’s opener for the home side, before the superb Lyle Foster had cancelled out Mo Diaby’s strike.

Burnley had previously found themselves on the wrong end of the tightest call before Villa bagged their second when Foster was ruled just offside before he slotted home.

The cruel defeat, where Burnley’s gutsy effort counted for nothing, means they remain five points adrift of safety.

Kompany made one slight tweak to the side that battled admirably during the 2-0 Boxing Day defeat to Liverpool, with Johann Gudmundsson coming in for Mike Tresor.

The Icelander made his return from injury during the Liverpool game, having previously missed Burnley’s last two outings.

Hjalmar Ekdal, Jack Cork and Luca Koleosho all remain sidelined, while the likes of Ameen Al-Dakhil, Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury were not involved once again.

Josh Cullen was also left out, but he took part in a fitness test on the pitch before the game.

As for Villa, they made two changes from their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, with Alex Moreno and Mo Diaby replacing Lucas Digne and Leander Dendoncker.

Diaby was almost straight in on the act for Villa, drilling wide of the back post after Sander Berge could only partially clear an early corner.

Burnley hit back with a half chance, as Lyle Foster chased down a long ball over the top and almost beat the outrushing Emi Martinez, but the Villa keeper just about got there first to clear into touch.

Villa Park was very muted during the early stages, which was testament to the good job Burnley were doing in frustrating the home side.

The first real chance of the game came to Villa’s dangerman Ollie Watkins, who swung a left-footed volley at goal after Vitinho had been caught out by a long diagonal. But thankfully for the Clarets James Trafford got down well to make an important stop.

Burnley were dealt an early blow when Jordan Beyer was forced off after receiving medical treatment. Hannes Delcroix was the man to take his place.

The change came at a point in the game where Villa were beginning to turn the screw, applying more and more pressure on the Burnley goal.

Midway through the half, Douglas Luiz wasted a good chance to test Trafford when Villa were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of the Burnley box, but his effort was poor and easily blocked by the wall.

The Clarets hit back with a golden chance of their own after Foster did brilliantly to dispossess a Villa defender of the ball by the byline.

The striker bore down on the Villa goal before attempting to pick out Zeki Amdouni in space, but his pass was overhit. Burnley kept the ball alive though and Josh Brownhill fired a low shot just wide of the post.

A minute later, the skipper got another shot off at goal, again from a similar position on the edge of the Villa box, but this time Emi Martinez was able to get down and make a relatively comfortable save.

Just as Burnley were beginning to enjoy an encouraging couple of minutes, Villa hit back with the game’s opening goal.

Defensively it was a soft goal to concede from Burnley’s point of view, with Watkins allowed to cut in from the left a little too easily to slide the ball across the box. There Leon Bailey was able to cut inside himself, before firing high into the net at Trafford’s near post.

Burnley weren’t behind for long though, two minutes in fact, with Zeki Amdouni pulling side level with a close-range finish.

Believe it or not it came via a set-piece, with Johann Gudmundsson’s free-kick being headed back across goal by Dara O’Shea for Amdouni to fire home into an empty net to the delight of the travelling Clarets fans.

Burnley were flowing with confidence going forwards and threatened a second, with Odobert glancing a header wide from Amdouni’s cross following a clever move.

Foster did have the ball in the back of the net after running one-on-one with Martinez from the halfway line but the linesman raised his flag just as Foster dispatched the ball into the back of the net.

It initially looked well offside, but having watched the incident back Foster was off by a toe, as confirmed by a VAR check.

It transpired to be a game-changing moment because Villa would end up retaking the lead on the stroke of half-time.

From Burnley’s perspective it was another soft goal to concede, with Watkins making a simple run in behind O’Shea to retrieve a ball over the top of their defence before pulling the ball back for Diaby to slot home.

It was a hugely frustrating way to end what had been an encouraging half, with Burnley causing Villa all sorts of problems in attack. But at the other end of the pitch they were just unable to keep the door shut.

Offensively though Burnley were a joy to watch at times and came close once again at the start of the second-half.

Sander Berge unleashed Foster with a defence-splitting pass but the striker went to ground too easily looking for a penalty. The Clarets kept hold of the ball though, with Amdouni testing Martinez with a low effort that the Argentinian saved well at his near post.

Burnley’s momentum was halted in its tracks 10 minutes into the second period though when they were reduced to 10 men.

Berge was the man to make way, shown a second yellow for a tug on Douglas Luiz in the middle of the park, having originally been booked after Vill’a second at the end of the first-half.

While it was a soft way to be dismissed, Berge put himself in a sticky situation and was asking for trouble pulling Luiz’s shirt that close to the referee.

Kompany quickly reshuffled things, replacing Amdouni with Aaron Ramsey who received a healthy reception on his return to Villa Park.

Minutes later, Kompany was left furious on the touchline after Burnley found themselves on the wrong end of a contentious call from referee Stuart Attwell.

It came after Foster had done well to chase down a long ball before poking inches wide of the upright. But a split second Foster nipped ahead of Diego Carlos, the Villa defender clearly handled the ball.

We never received confirmation of a VAR check inside the stadium and, after a short delay, the referee allowed the game to continue. Had it been given, Carlos would surely have had to have been sent off.

After this moment of controversy, Villa laid siege to the Burnley goal, coming close with four good chances in quick succession.

Trafford was equal to the first, getting a strong hand to John McGinn’s low effort before parrying Diaby’s effort away from goal. Douglas Luiz then curled just wide before Jacob Ramsey, the brother of Aaron, somehow managed to blaze over from inside the six-yard box.

Another two big chances went begging for Villa when Diaby fired over the bar twice in as many minutes, somehow failing to hit the target from close range.

Incredibly, Burnley made Villa pay for their glaring misses by drawing level with 20 minutes to go.

Inevitably Foster was the man to get it, capping off a supreme display with a smart finish at Martinez’s near post after racing to reach a long ball over the top of Villa’s defence - a tactic that had proved so successful all game long.

Villa, buoyed on by the increasingly impatient home fans, threw the kitchen sink at Burnley during the final 10 minutes.

Four minutes from time, Burnley’s brave resistance was broken in the cruellest of fashions - and once again referee Attwell was involved at the centre of it.

He awarded the home side a contentious penalty when Ramsey clipped Jhon Duran inside the box despite there appearing to be minimal contact.

Douglas Luiz stepped up and found the back of the net off the underside of the crossbar – and the home fans inside Villa Park let out a huge sigh of relief.

Even with a man down, Burnley went to the end in search of an unlikely equaliser, but it wasn’t to be – leaving Kompany and his men feeling very aggrieved at the full-time whistle.

TEAMS

Villa: Martinez, Carlos, Konsa, Moreno, Lenglet (Torres), Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey, Bailey (Dendoncker), Diaby (Duran), Watkins

Subs not used: Marschall, Proctor, Chambers, Iroegbunam, Zaniolo

Burnley: Trafford, Vitinho, O'Shea, Beyer (Delcroix), Taylor, Brownhill, Berge, Gudmundsson (Roberts), Odobert (Tresor), Amdouni (Ramsey), Foster

Subs not used: Muric, Redmond, Bruun Larsen, Rodriguez, Obafemi

Referee: Stuart Attwell