LFC Live - ‘It’s identical’ - Host rages as Brentford punished after controversial Arsenal goal stood

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(Credit: Imago)

Jack Heath

Sat 23 August 2025 18:15, UK

Brentford were denied a goal against Aston Villa despite Arsenal getting away with the same act against Man United.

The Bees bounced back from an opening day embarrassment against Nottingham Forest to beat Aston Villa 1-0 as Ollie Watkins struggled yet again.

New signing from Bournemouth Dango Ouattara scored the only goal of the match on his debut, making his presence known in front of the Gtech faithful.

However, the game had a contentious moment in which, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former PGMOL referee Keith Hackett felt Brentford’s goal should have been allowed.

The manner of the disallowed goal shares striking similarities to Riccardo Calafiori’s winner at Old Trafford, infuriating presenter Richard Keys.

Emi Martinez was thought to be lucky to get away with an error rather than being fouled (Credit: Imago)

After going 1-0 up, the Bees thought they scored another after Mikkel Damsgaard slammed in a loose ball as Emi Martinez fumbled the ball.

The referee then disallowed the goal due to Sepp van den Berg supposedly infringing the keeper by jumping into him.

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Nathan Collins was also involved as him and his centre-back partner put pressure on the World Cup winner.

Taking to X (23 August), the presenter Keys felt that the west London side should have been awarded the goal, saying: “Brentford goal disallowed for foul on [Emi] Martinez – [Nathan] Collins backed into the keeper.”

He then added that the ruled out goal was similar to Calafiori’s winner against the Red Devils on the opening weekend of the Premier League as William Saliba got away with backing into Altay Bayindir, which wasn’t given as a foul.

Highlighting PGMOL’s apparent inconsistency which left him infuriated, Keys said: “It’s identical to the Arsenal goal last week.”

Football Insider verdict

Following a bashing from pundits and fans alike, I was impressed by the doggedness and determination of Keith Andrews’ team.

Even though they deserved to have a second goal, they were resolute in keeping the Villains out of their goal as they held on to all three points.

Notably, Jordan Henderson showed strong leadership to guide the Bees to victory, popping up all over the pitch to instil confidence in a largely young side.

Dango Ouattara v Aston Villa (23 August)Minutes played84Shots (on target)2 (2)Expected goals xG0.79Goals1Big chances missed 1(Source: Sofascore)

The win does not mean Andrews and co.

are out of a tricky spot yet as harder fixtures are to come with Chelsea, Man City and Man United coming up in the next five matches in the league.

I do still believe, given the low quality in the squad, that the west London outfit are still likely to be one of the relegation battlers this campaign.

However, the form of Ouattara to grab his first goal and get off the mark will give the Burkinabe a huge boost in confidence as they turn to both him and Igor Thiago to smash home the goals to give them a chance of survival.