Aston Villa look to consolidate their top-four challenge as they face a stuttering Brighton & Hove Albion.
Victory will see Villa go into the week-and-a-half break sat third, whilst Brighton can climb as high as 12th with a win if Crystal Palace and Fulham both lose elsewhere.
Team News
Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
Andres Garcia (hamstring), Youri Tielemans (ankle), Alysson, John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara (all knee) remain absent.
Brighton will again be without Jan Paul van Hecke after he suffered a hamstring injury in their last training session before their 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Yasin Ayari (shoulder) faces a late fitness check but Mats Wieffer (toe), Stefanos Tzimas (ACL), Solly March and Adam Webster (both knee) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Brighton at Villa Park on Wednesday 11 February at 7:30pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 3 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have lost one of their last 10 league meetings against Brighton (W7, D2, L1).
- Brighton have won one of six Premier League visits to Villa (W1, D1, L4).
- Ollie Watkins has scored six goals in Villa’s last five home games against Brighton.
- Villa haven’t lost three straight home matches in the top flight since October – November 2020, of which Brighton coincidentally were the third team to beat them in that run.
- Brighton are winless in their last five away games in the top flight (D2, L3).
Prediction
Having hit a rut with one win in their last five league matches, Villa really need to just regroup after they were outplayed attack wise in their draw at Bournemouth and start winning away if they’re to keep the chasing pack at bay in the race for a top-four finish.
Brighton meanwhile lacked any real proper quality in their defeat to Palace so a huge improvement is needed up front, but they did well defensively to frustrate the Eagles which is a small positive, as they will likely face a tough test against the likes of Morgan Rogers and Watkins.
In fact, I expect this to be a close game but Villa should find this easier in terms of attacking play and if they play their best football, I fancy them to beat Brighton who really need to bring more urgency and creativity to stop their recent rut.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton
Result: Aston Villa 1-0 Brighton
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