In the early morning of December 18, Beijing time, the 17th round of the English Premier League was in full swing, and Brentford was preparing to face Aston Villa at home.
In the end, Aston Villa defeated their opponents 2-1 to make it nine games unbeaten in a row, quickly moving into second place in the table and breaking Liverpool's standings.
At present, the Premier League title race is fierce, and Aston Villa has become an unexpected dark horse when they are not favored.
Unai Emery's side beat Manchester City and Arsenal in quick succession to move them into the top three at the top of the table.
Aston Villa had previously managed to top their UEFA Cup group and qualify for the last-16 knockout round, allowing manager Unai Emery to focus more on the league title.
In this round, Aston Villa challenged 11th-placed Brentford away and showed their quality as a team that performed well.
Over the course of the game, Brentford's Damsgaard came close to scoring in the eighth minute, but couldn't do so.
In stoppage time, Brentford took advantage of a corner kick and Lewis Potter scored past Villa to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Although Villa scored with a push in the 45+3rd minute, the goal was ruled offside.
It wasn't until the 77th minute that Leon Bailey's cross assist led Alex Moreno to head home to level the score at 1-1.
Then, in the 85th minute, Watkins' header put Villa past Brentford again to make it 2-1.
Villa enjoyed nearly 70 per cent possession throughout the game, had 15 shots on goal but only five on target, and took 10 to 5 corners, with a number of stats suggesting that Villa had the better control of the game.
However, Villa were overpowered by Brentford in the first half as a whole until a Brentford player was sent off in the second half, giving Villa a numerical advantage.
In this case, Villa relied on the offensive of scoring two goals in eight minutes to successfully complete the reversal stunner.
The win made it a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions, including three in a league winning streak, and another win for the team after back-to-back wins over Manchester City and Arsenal, taking the number of points to 38 points, overtaking Liverpool with a game in hand and moving up to second place in the table.
As manager, Unai Emery has been leading Villa to continue to play the role of a super dark horse with back-to-back victories.
According to statistics, 38 points were scored in the first 17 rounds, setting a record for Villa's best start since entering the 21st century, and also achieving the team's best result in 23 years.
It's fair to say that Unai Emery has managed to lead Villa through a frenzied metamorphosis, with the team winning and getting closer to the top of the table.
As such, they are well placed to compete for the Premier League title, which would be the team's first Premier League title.