Aston Villa travel to East Sussex on Wednesday to take on a Brighton & Hove Albion side two points behind them in the Premier League table.
Villa have won seven matches to haul themselves into the top four in the Premier League table after starting the season in shambolic form. They briefly rose as high as third before Chelsea’s draw with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
Unai Emery has turned home draws back into home wins and Villa Park is proving a difficult place to go for Villa’s opponents. They’ve been winning away from home as well but Brighton are undoubtedly the toughest opposition Villa have encountered since the November international break.
Villa have done something Brighton haven’t this season. The Seagulls are yet to be beaten in a home fixture, winning four and drawing two. Only Brighton, Arsenal, Sunderland and AFC Bournemouth remain unbreached on their own turf.
Fabian Hurzeler’s team have beaten Manchester City, Newcastle United, Leeds United and Brentford, a run that includes their last three consecutive home fixtures. I’ve checked with the experts and it turns out that’s pretty decent.
Villa can take hope from their record at the Amex Stadium. Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen scored the goals in a 3-0 win last season and Brighton have beaten Villa at home only once since the last time Villa won the league.
Midfielder Ross Barkley came off the bench against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday but went off again with a knee injury. According to Emery’s pre-match press conference, Barkley will be out for eight to twelve weeks.
Tyrone Mings is out injured and Emery told the press on Tuesday that he is expected to be unavailable for another four weeks.
Emery’s latest team news doesn’t make much material difference to his starting eleven but the proximity of Saturday’s Premier League match against leaders Arsenal might and probably should.
My guess is that Ollie Watkins will come back into the line-up with Donyell Malen dropping back to the bench or, if Emery is feeling particularly frisky, playing with Watkins and necessitating a reshuffle elsewhere.
With Arsenal at home next on the schedule and a slightly off-colour performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers, I can see Emi Buendía being given a rest in order to bring in either Malen or my wildcard prediction: Jadon Sancho on the left.
Elsewhere, I’ve tried to second guess the gaffer by taking what I think might happen – Boubacar Kamara sitting this one out to allow Amadou Onana a start in midfield – and predicting instead that it won’t happen.
Villa’s away game against Brighton will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket in the UK.
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➡️ How to watch Brighton v Aston Villa: kick-off time, TV channels and streams
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