Brentford vs Aston Villa Predict and Preview

Brentford host Aston Villa this Sunday (2pm kick-off) with Unai Emery’s side currently riding the crest of a wave.

PRE-MATCH ANALYSIS

Brentford must be wary of returning Watkins

consecutive After victories of 1-0 over Arsenal and Manchester City, Villa has risen to third place in the Premier League standings and is now widely seen as a title contender for the first time in a long time.
The Bees lost 1-0 against Sheffield United the previous game, placing them in 11th place going into the weekend.

Aston Villa’s impressive recent run has certainly been built on their home success; the Villans are presently enjoying an incredible 15-game winning streak at their stadium.

In the Premier League this season, eight wins out of eight home games tells its own tale; they have won 24 of their 35 points at Villa Park.

In just his second visit to Brentford as an opponent, striker Ollie Watkins will make his way back to his former team on Sunday. The 27-year-old England international and the Bees drew 1-1 during Villa’s Premier League visit to Gtech Community Stadium in April of last year.

Watkins has improved significantly under Emery and is now among the top flight’s most deadly finishers after leaving west London in September 2020.

Leading the third-most attacking team in the Premier League, Watkins is the most productive English player in the competition with eight goals and six assists so far this year.

Watkins is second only to the Norwegian in terms of attempted efforts on goal this season, but only Man City’s bionic Erling Haaland (14G, 4A) and Liverpool’s Mo Salah (11G, 7A) have been directly involved in more Premier League goals than Watkins.

Thomas Frank’s Bees should brace themselves for a fast start from their visitors on Sunday, as Villa have scored more goals (13) within the first 30 minutes of games than any team in the Premier League so far this season.

Notably, Villa are also the only top flight team yet to concede a goal in the 15 minutes before the interval (31-45 minutes).

While Brentford often target opponents from close range, a feature of Villa’s game so far this season has been their sharp shooting from distance: no team has scored more Premier League goals from outside the box than the Villans (6) in 2023/24.

Defensively strong, Villa are excellent in transition and yet to concede on the counter attack this season. Further, only Man City and Arsenal (both 8.3) have limited their opposition to fewer shots per game this season than Villa (10.6).

Brentford will look for chinks in their in-form opponents’ armour this Sunday, however, and Villa’s away form is fallible.

Emery’s side have only scored 10 of their 35 Premier League goals (29 per cent) on their travels and they have also shipped 15 goals on the road leaving them with an away goal difference of -5.

Brentford has a history of success at the Gtech, so this matchup looks to be strategically interesting, and Watkins’ return will just enhance the flavor.

Although it seems unimaginable now, it’s safe to state that Aston Villa was in freefall during the first few months of the previous campaign.

following replacing Dean Smith in November 2021, Steven Gerrard helped them hold a stable mid-table position. However, by the beginning of September of the previous year, his team was second from the bottom in the Premier League following four losses in their first five games.

Although the next month saw a small improvement, Villa’s sixth loss of the season came on October 20 when they were soundly defeated 3-0 at Craven Cottage by Fulham. Understandably dejected, Gerrard commented, “The performance was miles away from what I want, expect and stand for.” “I’m a football player; giving up is not in my DNA.” Let’s see

The next day he was sacked after less than a year in charge. Two days after that, Unai Emery was appointed after Aston Villa reportedly paid more than £5 million to release the Spaniard from his contract at Villarreal.

It was not until 1 November that he officially took over and, in the meantime, caretaker manager Aaron Danks oversaw a 4-0 win over Brentford and a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle.

The arrival of serial winner Emery lifted the mood around the place to no end, not least because he won his first two games in charge. With the World Cup break in which to fully implement his methods, after it, Villa thrived – well, after three wins, one draw and three defeats at the start of the year.

Villa won 10 of their final 15 Premier League games and, all of a sudden, broke into European contention. A draw with Liverpool in the penultimate game of the season lifted them to seventh, with a win over Brighton on the final day securing a place in the Europa Conference League play-off round. Emery had inspired a stunning recovery.

To say they have carried the momentum into this term would be a vast understatement.

They defeated Hibernian 8-0 on aggregate in the Europa Conference League to secure a spot in the group stage. They have already advanced to the next round after winning four games in a row after suffering a close 3-2 loss to Legia Warsaw on the first matchday in September.

To this point, Emery’s team has performed admirably in the Premier League at home. After defeating Manchester City and Arsenal in their previous two games, they have taken advantage of 35 of the 48 points that are currently available to move up to third place before Sunday’s game.

As of this writing, they are 16/1 favorites for the title, although Emery is being coy about those chances. After the victory over his old team, Arsenal, he declared, “I will speak again when we are in game 30, 32 and, if we are in the same position as now, then maybe I can speak about it.”

Although it is difficult to argue against, Aston Villa has already proven themselves by defeating three of the other four teams in the top five. It is also encouraging that, as the winter break draws near, there is not only a wide-open race for the title, but an outsider is very much in the mix.

Having taken charge of more than 970 matches in 19 years, Unai Emery is one of the most experienced managers currently working in the Premier League.

After a career as a midfielder, mostly playing in the second tier of Spanish football, Emery had a pretty quick transition into management, having suffered a serious knee injury in his early 30s.

He helped the now-defunct Lorca Deportiva to promotion in 2004/05 and got Almeria into La Liga for the first time in 2006/07, before an incredible eighth-place finish the following campaign.

In 2008, his exploits saw him move on to Valencia, whom he guided to three straight third-place finishes from 2010 to 2012, before a forgettable six-month spell in Russia with Spartak Moscow.

Emery returned to Spain in January 2013 and went on to guide Sevilla to three successive Europa League titles.

Two years and seven trophies with Paris Saint-Germain followed, with Emery then trusted by the Arsenal board to become the successor to Arsène Wenger, which was, to an extent, a poisoned chalice.

Emery guided the Gunners to the final in 2019, where they were beaten by Chelsea in Baku, Azerbaijan, but he was unable to help them finish higher than fifth for the first time in four seasons.

Emery was sacked after 18 months at Emirates Stadium in November 2019 and appointed by Villarreal in July 2020, with – you’ve guessed it – a fourth Europa League triumph following 10 months later, by way of a penalty shootout win over Manchester United in Gdansk, Poland.

The 52-year-old then turned down an approach by Newcastle United in November 2021, but came back to England to replace Steven Gerrard at Villa Park in October 2022.

John Townley of Birmingham Live explains how Unai Emery is likely to set up his Aston Villa side at Gtech Community Stadium:

“He has two options: whether he plays three centre-backs or a back four against Brentford.

“I think he’ll stick with the same lineup that defeated Manchester City and Arsenal last week. There’s no reason to switch up a winning squad that can defeat the top two teams from the previous campaign in less than a week.

Diego Carlos might then partner Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa at the back in such scenario. Youri Tielemans may also take over for Luiz in a more significant capacity.

“John McGinn will back Watkins and [Leon] Bailey going forward, and Emery can also turn to Moussa Diaby and Jacob Ramsey as options.”

David Coote is the umpire.

Timothy Wood and Mark Scholes served as assistants.

Official Fourth: Simon Hooper

Craig Pawson, VAR

David Coote, the Nottinghamshire FA referee, will be in charge on Sunday afternoon.

Coote began officiating at the age of sixteen and worked his way up from the Notts Alliance League to the Conference North before being promoted to the Football League list in 2010. Coote is the son of former Nottinghamshire CCC cricketer David Edward Coote.

He officiated Leyton Orient vs. Rotherham United in the League One play-off final at Wembley in May 2014, and in April of 2018, he officiated his first Premier League match.

This term, Coote has officiated seven games and issued 29 yellow and one red card.

Brentford 1 Aston Villa 1 (22 April 2023)

Douglas Luiz’s 87th-minute goal earned Aston Villa a share of the spoils at Gtech Community Stadium.

Ivan Toney’s header from Bryan Mbeumo’s deep cross soon after the hour mark gave Brentford the much-deserved lead following an evenly matched first forty-five minutes.

With Kevin Schade, Mbeumo, and Frank Onyeka missing their finest opportunities, Thomas Frank’s team was punished in the last moments of the game when Luiz scored from six yards out.