Aston Villa out of League Cup to continue poor start to season. Grimsby causes another shock

By Canadian Press on September 16, 2025.

Aston Villa’s miserable start to the season continued with elimination from the English League Cup on Tuesday.

Unai Emery’s team was beaten 4-2 by Brentford in a penalty shootout in the third round, after a 1-1 draw in regulation time.

Villa, which reached the Champions League quarterfinals last season, hasn’t even scored a goal in its first four Premier League games this campaign — one of which was a loss at Brentford last month.

Returning to the Gtech Community Stadium, Villa at least found the net for the first time this season — through recent signing Harvey Elliott after a defensive error in the 43rd minute — but Aaron Hickey replied with a fierce volley in the 57th to take the match to penalties.

Brentford goalkeeper Hákon Valdimarsson made two saves, from John McGinn and Matty Cash, before Denmark playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard stroked home the clinching penalty.

Crystal Palace also needed spot kicks to advance to the fourth round — in its case against second-tier Millwall, which equalized in stoppage time to make it 1-1 and force a penalty shootout.

Palace won 4-2 after two saves from Argentine goalkeeper Walter Benítez.

U.S. international Chris Richards gave Palace the lead in the 72nd and also converted one of the penalties in the shootout.

Grimsby’s dream run

Fourth-tier Grimsby Town followed up its elimination of Manchester United in the previous round by winning again, this time beating second-tier Sheffield Wednesday 1-0.

The third round continues on Wednesday with Nottingham Forest visiting second-tier Swansea, with the rest of the matches taking place next week.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press