Tammy Abraham was on target to ensure new Aston Villa manager Dean Smith got off to a winning start.
The on loan Chelsea man rose highest to nod home an Ahmed El Mohamady cross with just eight minutes on the clock.
A sold out Villa Park got a first glimpse of the new-look Aston Villa under former Brentford boss Smith.
He told the club’s website: “They’re a group of talented players that have shown today that they can work hard.
“Most of the work we’ve done this week has been without the ball, and I thought we were good in that aspect today.
“I can see the lads are very coachable. We stuck to the game plan and won the ball very high up the pitch.
“We created opportunities from that and probably could have got a lot more.”