Aston Villa 0-1 Watford

Aston Villa were sunk by a header from Emmanuel Dennis as Watford left Villa Park with three points on Saturday afternoon.

The striker headed home Ismaila Sarr’s cross after 78 minutes, capitalising on one of the Hornets’ rare forays forward.

Danny Ings had earlier struck the post for Villa, who dominated possession and racked up 20 shots but were unable to find a route to goal.

Defeat leaves the Villans 12^th in the Premier League table ahead of a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.

Ings, who netted in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season, replaced Ollie Watkins up front in the only change from the loss to Newcastle United last time out.

The striker was straight into the thick of the action, seeing a shot blocked before driving into the box and going down under a clumsy challenge from Samir, which was checked by VAR to no avail.

Watford were content to soak up an early spell of pressure before they offered everyone in the stadium a glimpse of their threat on the counter-attack after 14 minutes.

As a Villa attack broke down, Sarr picked the ball up on the right and sliced the hosts’ backline open with a crossfield through ball to Dennis, who cut inside and saw his shot well saved by Emi Martínez.

Ings, who was making his first start in four games, was looking sharp, and he struck the outside of the post after latching onto Emiliano Buendía’s delicate through ball and beating Ben Foster with his shot.

With the half drawing to a close, Jacob Ramsey and Philippe Coutinho fired efforts at goal as the home side attempted, unsuccessfully, to break the deadlock.

The second half began with ten minutes of sustained Villa pressure before the Hornets once again sprung forward with menace, this time an opportunity was worked for Moussa Sissoko, who shot into the side-netting when a square ball to Sarr looked a better bet.

Watkins was summoned to replace Douglas Luiz just before the hour mark in an attacking change from Steven Gerrard that saw the striker join Ings up front.

Ashley Young and Leon Bailey followed soon after as the home side searched for some inspiration, which was almost delivered when Coutinho jinked his way around the edge of the penalty area before sending a dipping shot onto the roof of the net.

After seeing their side dominate territory and possession in the second half, Villa Park was left stunned when Watford snatched the lead on 78 minutes.

Imran Louza led another breakaway and fed Sarr on the right-hand side of the box, with the winger standing up a cross for Dennis to head home.

Instead of sitting back and defending their lead, Watford were only denied a second by a superb close-range stop from Martínez from Josh King.

Villa toiled during six minutes of stoppage time but were unable to craft a clear-cut opportunity as they slipped to defeat.