Aston Villa-Brighton is a Premier League Week 7 match and is played on Saturday at 1:30pm: TV, line-ups, predictions
The seventh day opens with a clash between two clubs that have been wreaking havoc at the top of the Premier League in recent times. Aston Villa and Brighton are now two outsiders who are highly ‘respected’ even by the big names in the English top flight, especially after they managed to snatch a pass to Europe last year (the Villans in the Conference League and the Seagulls in the Europa League) at the expense of other, more emblazoned teams.
And if the tournament, absurdly, ended today, both would still find themselves in the top seven: Unai Emery’s men are sixth on 12 points, Roberto De Zerbi’s are three points ahead of them, and even third behind giants Manchester City and Liverpool. Aston Villa, like Brighton, were involved in the English League Cup this week and were immediately eliminated: Everton, more motivated, defeated Villa Park 2-1, thus avenging the ugly defeat suffered last August in the league match (4-0). It was a defeat that showed the Spanish coach’s side’s struggle to cope with the double weekly commitment. In the debut in the Conference League group stage, in fact, Aston Villa had unexpectedly fallen in Warsaw against Legia (3-2). In the Premier League, on the other hand, things are going well: after the ugly defeat against Liverpool, the Villans racked up two victories in a row, even beating Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, thanks to a goal by Watkins (0-1).
No one scores as much as Brighton
The cups have also brought Brighton little satisfaction. Last Wednesday, the Seagulls, like Aston Villa, crashed out of the League Cup by conceding to Chelsea (0-1), in the first match of the season in which they couldn’t find the way to a goal.
Joao Pedro
An unfortunate debut in the Europa League: their journey began with a knockout against Aek Athens of Greece (2-3). But in the Premier League everything changes: against Bournemouth last weekend the Seagulls got their hands on their fifth win in the first six matches: Cherries beat them 3-1, with De Zerbi enjoying the best attack in the Premier.
The Prediction
A difficult match to read, between two teams who are doing very well in the league and at the same time suffer in the cups. Aston Villa should at least be able to avoid defeat and keep their unbeaten run at home, but it won’t be a goalless affair with at least three goals in total expected at Villa Park.
Aston Villa-Brighton’s likely line-up
- ASTON VILLA (4-2-2): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau Torres, Digne; Kamara, Douglas Luiz; Zaniolo, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins.
- BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Gilmour, Dahoud; March, Welbeck, Mitoma; Ferguson.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
