Aston Villa moved up to fifth in the Championship after an impressive 2-0 win away at Preston North End, who slumped to a third straight defeat.
Steve Bruce's Villa side went into the game in good form having lost just one of their previous 11 Championship games and they took all three points in clinical fashion at Deepdale.
The visitors went ahead after 12 minutes when Robert Snodgrass delivered a corner that James Chester met with a powerful near-post header past Preston goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Provider then turned goalscorer just after the half-hour mark. Josh Onomah broke clear of the hosts' defence and teed Snodgrass up to score from the edge of the penalty area.
While Villa are on an upward trajectory, Preston boss Alex Neil has seen his side fail to win in their past five attempts and they will be desperate to end the slump in Saturday's trip to Ipswich Town .
Birmingham City, who held rivals Villa to a 0-0 draw in their last outing, suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Brentford that leaves them hovering above the Championship relegation zone in 21st.
The game was deadlocked until the 74th minute when Michael Morrison felled Neal Maupay in the penalty area and Ollie Watkins scored from the ensuing spot-kick.
Brentford doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Maupay beat Tomasz Kuszczak with a low shot into the bottom left corner of the net, wrapping up a win that extends the Bees' unbeaten run to eight Championship matches.
