Aston Villa had to see out the final quarter of their opening Premier League fixture against Newcastle with ten men after Ezri Konsa was dismissed in the 66th minute.
Konsa brought down Anthony Gordon as he threatened to race in one-on-one with keeper Marco Bizot on the counter-attack, earning a straight red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Villa saw through a clean sheet regardless as the game finished goalless, but Unai Emery will now need to consider his options as his side visit Brentford for Saturday's 3pm kick-off.
Where is Ezri Konsa and when will he return for Aston Villa?
A VAR check confirmed the red card for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity, and Konsa will now be suspended against Brentford.
Although it was a straight red card, denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity only comes with a one-match ban, so Konsa will be able to return to action next weekend against Crystal Palace.
Emery responded to the red card by moving Boubacar Kamara back from defensive midfield to partner Tyrone Mings for the rest of the game.
The French international has played that role on a handful of occasions for Villa and did so more regularly for previous club Marseille.
Keeping Kamara there in Konsa's absence is an option this weekend, but he could equally turn to Pau Torres alongside Mings.
The Spaniard was an unused substitute against Newcastle as Emery preferred to stick with what he already had on the pitch.
In FourFourTwo's view, Emery could even go both ways and remove Mings from the starting line-up, instead going with Torres and Kamara in his first XI against Brentford.
That would give Villa more passing options from the back against the Bees, who struggled to deal with Nottingham Forest's new possession-heavy ball-playing approach in a 3-1 defeat last weekend.
