The Japan Times - African players in Europe: Ouattara dents Villa title hopes

Ouattara struck in first-half added time and the home loss left Villa seven points behind leaders Arsenal and one below second-placed Manchester City.

The other African scorers -- Ghanaian Antoine Semenyo, Beto from Guinea-Bissau and Senegalese Ismaila Sarr -- were involved in draws.

AFP Sport highlights African headline-makers in the major European leagues:

ENGLAND

DANGO OUATTARA (Brentford)

Ouattara lashed into the top corner from a tight angle at Villa Park after his initial cross had been blocked. Despite a red card for Kevin Schade, who was dismissed for kicking Matty Cash prior to the goal, the Bees held on for an impressive victory thanks to their winger's fourth goal this season.

ISMAILA SARR (Crystal Palace)

The Senegal winger scored for the first time since November to rescue a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest. Palace trailed to Morgan Gibbs-White's early goal before Forest defender Neco Williams was sent off in first-half stoppage time for blocking Jefferson Lerma's goal-bound header with his hand. Sarr converted the resulting penalty to give Palace only their third point from their last nine games.

ANTOINE SEMENYO (Manchester City)

The Ghana forward was on target for City but the title challengers blew a two-goal lead in their damaging 2-2 draw at Tottenham. Semenyo struck to put Pep Guardiola's side 2-0 up in the 44th minute, sweeping home from 12 yards after Bernardo Silva poked the ball into his path. It was Semenyo's fourth goal in five games in all competitions since signing from Bournemouth in a £65 million deal.

SPAIN

ILYAS CHAIRA (Real Oviedo)

Moroccan winger Chaira helped Oviedo end a four-month run without a victory as his goal secured a 1-0 win over Girona to give his team a faint hope of La Liga survival. The 24-year-old finished from close range for his second goal in four matches.

GERMANY

SERHOU GUIRASSY (Borussia Dortmund)

Guirassy burst back into form while helping to keep Dortmund's slim title hopes alive with a brace in a 3-2 home win over Heidenheim. The Guinea international had scored just once in 10 league matches dating back to October. Not a regular penalty taker, Guirassy placed a spot-kick just inside the right post in the second half to equalise. Guirassy added another goal just 84 seconds later, breaking downfield and slicing the ball inside the near post to put Dortmund in front. Guirassy's hopes of a hat-trick were snuffed out when he missed another penalty.

SILAS (Mainz)

Silas scored the winner as Mainz kept up a stunning turnaround with a 2-1 victory at RB Leipzig. With the teams locked at 1-1 four minutes into the second half, the Democratic Republic of Congo-born forward collected the ball near the centre circle and drove upfield, beating two defenders before guiding a shot past Peter Gulacsi.

FRANCE

ACHRAF HAKIMI (Paris Saint-Germain)

The African player of the year played in his club's Champions League draw with Newcastle United in midweek, before making his first Ligue 1 appearance in three months in PSG's game at Strasbourg, after a spell out injured and then featuring for Morocco on their run to the Africa Cup of Nations final. He marked it by being sent off in the second half, but PSG scored late on with 10 men to win 2-1 and take back top spot in Ligue 1 from Lens.

PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (Marseille)

The veteran Gabon striker, who had a disappointing AFCON, scored for Marseille but they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 away to Paris FC. It was his ninth goal of the season but the disappointing result saw Marseille lose further ground at the top of the Ligue 1 table, three days after they were eliminated from the Champions League.

Y.Mori--JT