BRIGHTON – ASTON VILLA | Sunday 3pm
Roberto De Zerbi and Unai Emery couldn’t resist the undeniable allure of the Premier League and both agreed to take the reins at Brighton and Aston Villa as the season wore on, although the starting conditions were different. The Seagulls, in fact, had started the season on a high but their former coach, Graham Potter, was ‘bought’ last September by Chelsea, who paid the clause (in England it is possible) and brought him to London in place of the exonerated Thomas Tuchel.
For the Italian coach, back from the dramatic – not from a purely sporting point of view – experience at Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, picking up his legacy was by no means easy. Emery, on the other hand, chose to return to coach across the Channel despite not having left a good memory in his Arsenal days. He said goodbye to Villarreal – again against payment of a clause – and today sits on the Villans’ bench. After a difficult start, also made complicated by the calendar, De Zerbi managed to obtain the first positive results and arrives at this match on the wave of three victories in a row against Chelsea and Wolverhampton in the league and Arsenal in the League Cup.
Brighton are currently seventh in the league table and if they win today they can overtake Liverpool again and settle into the Europa League. The Birmingham club’s situation is quite different: Emery made a flying start, beating Manchester United 3-1, but Watkins and his team-mates are still too close to the relegation zone. They were eliminated from the League Cup this week: the Red Devils immediately avenged their Premier League defeat by winning 4-2 at Old Trafford.
Emery
The Prediction
With two coaches who usually like to play good football, there will be no shortage of goals in this interesting Premier League clash. We believe Brighton can avoid defeat in any case in a match with at least one goal each.
Brighton v Aston Villa likely line-ups
- BRIGHTON (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gross, Dunk, Webster, Estupinan; Caicedo, Mac Allister; March, Lallana, Mitoma; Trossard.
- ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Dendoncker, Douglas Luiz; Bailey, Ramsey, Buendia; Watkins.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
