Key events
Let's have some equipment…
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Webster, Dunk, Igor, Veltman; Gilmour, brute; Adingra, Pedro, Buonanotte; Welbeck. Substitutes: Steele, Enciso, Moder, Barco, Baleba, Fati, Offiah, Peupion, O'Mahony.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): Olsen; Konsa, Torres, Carlos, Digne; Bailey, Luiz, Rogers, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins. Substitutes: Gauci, Cash, Moreno, Chambers, Lenglet, Durán, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam, Kellyman.
Preamble
It's hard not to watch this game and reflect on the coaches. Just over a year ago Roberto De Zerbi was the man coming in, he came to a team that was already decent and immediately turned it into more, the goals that seemed so hard to find under Graham Potter suddenly came more freely, along with lovely football.
That was then; now, however, not so much. Perhaps Brighton eventually fleeced richer rivals to such an extent that they could no longer simply rebuild and perhaps did not have the equipment to cope with Europe, but also, perhaps their opponents have taken notice of their press-baiting style. , which can be just as tedious. to look at as it can be a buzz. So they find themselves 13th in the table (last season they finished sixth) and suddenly De Zerbi is as close to a blatant fraud as he is to a period genius.
Unai Emery, on the other hand, is now fully entrenched among elite coaches. His travails at PSG and particularly Arsenal, although reasonably attributable to complicated circumstances beyond his control, could also be used as evidence that he is not suited to the richer clubs. But when it comes to leading mid-range clubs to glory seemingly beyond them, he is the best and Villa appears to be another perfect candidate.
As such, they need just six points from their final three games to be sure of competing in next season's Champions League, but with Palace away and Liverpool at home, that won't be easy to achieve. They will want to make a dent in things here and now.
Start: 2pm BST
