Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Brentford – Wed, Dec 4th 2024, 20:15
Aston Villa look to return to winning ways at Villa Park on Wednesday evening, with a Premier League visit of Brentford (ko 8.15pm)
Unai Emery’s side entertain the Bees on the back of draws in both of their last two home outings, against Juventus in the Champions League and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
The Villans will be looking to bounce back from the weekend’s disappointment, having fallen to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Sunday.
Thomas Frank’s team enter the clash on a three-game unbeaten streak of their own, currently occupying eighth place in the league table.
An emphatic 4-1 victory at home to Leicester City over the weekend took them back to winning ways, after a goalless draw at Everton had followed a 3-1 win over Bournemouth earlier in the month.
Emery’s men enter the clash hoping to make it five games unbeaten against Brentford, having won two and drawn two of the sides’ last four meetings.
Stats
Brentford’s Kevin Schade became the fourth German player to score a Premier League hat-trick last time out against Leicester, with his three goals in that game more than he’d managed in his previous 41 appearances in the competition combined (2).
Against Crystal Palace last time out, Ollie Watkins became the first Aston Villa player to reach 50 goal involvements in Premier League home games (35 goals, 15 assists). His 35 goals is the second most by a Villa player at Villa Park, behind only Dwight Yorke (37).
While Brentford have won more points in Premier League home games than any other side this season (19), no side have won fewer points on the road than the Bees this term (1, level with Southampton).
Aston Villa have lost just one of their last 11 Premier League home games (W4 D6), going down 2-0 against Arsenal in August. Each of their last three have finished level, with the Villans last drawing four consecutive Premier League games at Villa Park in March/April 2007.
Brentford have lost 10 of their 15 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League matches (W2 D3), though both of their victories in this run have come away from home on a Wednesday (2-0 v Southampton in March 2023, 2-0 v Chelsea in April 2023).
Aston Villa have won just two of their last 14 Premier League games played on a Wednesday (D4 L8), though one of these was in their last such home match against Manchester City in December last year.
Brentford have lost nine of their last 10 Premier League games against sides that finished in the top four the previous season, with the only exception being a 1-1 draw with Manchester United in March.
There has been just one clean sheet in the six Premier League meetings between Aston Villa and Brentford, with the Villans winning 4-0 in October 2022 under Aaron Danks.
Brentford have never won an away league game against Aston Villa (D6 L3), with the Bees only facing Stoke (14) and Halifax Town (11) more often on the road without ever winning in their league history.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last four league games against Brentford (W2 D2), having been winless in their previous eight (D4 L4).
The Last Meeting
The points were shared in a thrilling 3-3 draw at Villa Park in April, the last time the two sides met, as the Villans remained fourth in the Premier League table.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers either side of the break saw Villa race into a two-goal lead, before being pegged back by quickfire strikes from Mathias Jorgensen and Bryan Mbeumo.
Yoane Wissa then completed the Bees’ comeback midway through the opening period, putting the visitors 3-2 to the good, but Watkins struck his second of the game with 10 minutes to go, stealing a point for the hosts and becoming the first Aston Villa player in Premier League history to notch 28 goal involvements in a single season.
Team News
Unai Emery will assess Emi Martínez ahead of the clash, after the goalkeeper was withdrawn at Stamford Bridge with a hand injury on Sunday.
Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey remain Villa’s only other absentees, with the pair still sidelined with respective knocks, having missed the last three matches.
Mathias Jensen will not be fit enough to travel to Villa Park with the Bees, the Denmark international being withdrawn during the weekend’s win over Leicester City with a hamstring injury.
Defender Kristoffer Ajer has missed the last five Premier League fixtures with a foot injury, and the clash will come too soon for him, with Gustavo Nunes, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey and Josh Dasilva still out for Brentford.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“Brentford, for me, is the best consistent team, or one of the best consistent teams in the Premier League for the last year. They are playing competitive. They can play long balls and score one goal, they can do one combination, building up, doing passes, progressing, and using their qualities to score a goal, different ways. “Hopefully, [it] is a good challenge and a good day to recover scoring or playing well, trying to impose and dominate against the opponent. Stop them better than the last matches we did, maybe.” – Unai Emery
“It is two teams who fit each other. It will be exciting, there will be chances both ends. Both teams want to take initiative. We probably want to press a little bit higher at times, but they have a fantastic mid-block. They are fantastic in terms of building. Hopefully, an entertaining game, with us on the right side with a win, of course.” – Thomas Frank
