OLLIE WATKINS has explained the celebration that sparked a furious melee between Brentford and Aston Villa this afternoon.
The England striker, 27, bagged an 85th minute winner in West London to consign his former club to a 2-1 defeat.
GettyOllie Watkins heads home Aston Villa’s winner[/caption]
ReutersWatkins pointed at a member of the crowd[/caption]
ReutersThe incident sparked a melee[/caption]
PATempers flared and set the tone for the rest of the match[/caption]
Following his header, Watkins pointed at a home fan and posed in front of them.
This sparked a furious response from a number of Brentford stars including Saman Ghoddos, who then clashed with Ezri Konsa.
The incident set the tone for a bad-tempered conclusion to the match.
Explaining his celebration to Premier League Productions after the game, Watkins said: “There was one individual who was abusing me all game so it only felt right that i celebrated in front of him.
“That caused a bit of a reaction and I’m glad we got three points.
“[Thomas] Frank asked why I celebrated him like that and I told him. We’re still on texting terms. I feel like I’ve done so much for the club, there were just a few things that he did.”
Further quizzed if he’d be reporting the incident, he said: “It’s up to them whether they want me, Thomas knows I wouldn’t just celebrate like that.”
Leon Bailey nearly scored the own goal of the season and while Emi Martinez saved, he then went down theatrically following a challenge from Neal Maupay.
That lit the touchpaper and Maupay went down following a similar challenge from the Villa keeper and when Martinez tried to drag him up, all hell broke loose.
Although he was not the only culprit, Boubacar Kamara got a red for grabbing the throat of Yegor Yarmoliuk.
Following his sending off, Kamara was held back by Unai Emery, who had run onto the pitch.
The Spaniard was then booked too.
Keane Lewis-Potter had earlier fired Brentford into a half-time lead.
The Bees had been 20 minutes from victory, before Ben Mee‘s 71st minute red card for a careless lunge changed everything.
Alex Moreno equalised in the 77th minute, before Watkins’ key moment on 85.
After the game, Brentford boss Frank said: “The game that we love won’t be discussed in your questions today. I don’t like that.
“Ollie and I went to each other after the game and said there was a situation. He is a top player with top integrity. I couldn’t understand why fans were booing him.”
On his players’ clashes with Emi Martinez and Kamara, he added: “I didn’t like the situation. It’s difficult in a very emotional game to show class, win, draw or lose.
“And yeah, I don’t think there was enough of that overall in the game.”
Emery, meanwhile, said: “I haven’t spoken to Ollie yet.
“Tomorrow we are going to speak about the match and one part of it will be about that because we lost some control.”
GettyThe bad-tempered match threatened to boil over[/caption]
ReutersEmi Martinez was at the heart of the melees[/caption]
Unai Emery ran on to hold Boubacar Kamara back
GettyKamara was sent off by referee David Coote[/caption]