7/4Brighton (3-4-3): Bart Verbruggen; Joël Veltman; Igor Júlio; Lewis Dunk; Adam Webster; Facundo Buonanotte; Billy Gilmour; Pascal Groß; João Pedro; Danny Welbeck; Simon Adingra;
Aston Villa (4-4-1-1): Robin Olsen; Diego Carlos; Ezri Konsa; Pau Torres; Lucas Digne; Leon Bailey; Douglas Luiz; John McGinn; Morgan Rogers; Moussa Diaby; Ollie Watkins;
From a disappointing position in the middle of the league standings, Brighton welcomed Aston Villa in the first of their remaining three home games of the season in the English Premier League. On the other hand, The Villans have the opportunity to make themselves unreachable in fourth position. That will happen with a success for them at the Amex Stadium and a loss for Tottenham at Anfield against Liverpool later in the day.
It’s safe to say Brighton is having a dreadfully poor season. Of course, the team has raised the bar high in recent years and, on their European debut, reached the Europa League 1/8-finals, which is an admirable achievement. However, there will be no European football at the Amex next season. In their last six championship games, the Seagulls have lost four times and taken just two points. However, we have to take into account that the defeats came against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City, but Bournemouth also easily got away with a 3-0 win over Brighton in the last round.
Unai Emery is making history at the helm of Aston Villa. The Villans are once again a factor in the English Premier League, and the team is a semi-finalist in Europe, although they lost 2-4 in their first clash against Olympiakos on Thursday and at home. In their last league game, Aston Villa went in with a two-goal lead at the break against Chelsea, but the scores were level after the break, and VAR even ruled out Chelsea’s late goal in the 95th minute. However, Emiliano Martinez was substituted at the break of that match, and he was out of the squad for the Olympiakos match.
In the last week, it has been directly evident how vital the Argentine keeper is for Aston Villa, and he will undergo a late fitness test that will confirm whether he can play in the critical away game today. Even with him, however, the Villans’ away form could be more satisfactory, even though they won on their last visit in the league and against Arsenal. In 2024, however, Aston Villa lost only on the pitch of Manchester City, and I don’t think that can happen today. Brighton has been absolutely helpless in the last month, and in September, they conceded a fifth consecutive loss to their rivals, and it was an emphatic 1:6 at Villa Park.