Aston Villa look to avoid making top-flight history in Seagulls showdown

Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion will be looking to return back to winning ways in the Premier League when they clash at Villa Park on Wednesday night.

The Villans were held to a 1-1 stalemate at Bournemouth in their last Premier League outing, denting their title ambitions, and they currently sit third in the PL standings and are nine points behind league leaders Arsenal at the summit.

Brighton suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace in the M23 derby last time out in the Premier League.

Match preview

Aston Villa are looking to avoid becoming the first English top-flight team in history to lose three home games in a row having won their previous eight (or more) beforehand.

The Villans have won seven of their last nine Premier League games against Brighton (D1 L1) and are looking to complete the double over them for the third time after 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Brighton have won just one of their six Premier League away games against Aston Villa (D1 L4), conceding at least twice in each of the five games they failed to win.

Unai Emery’s side have lost their last two home Premier League games, having won eight in a row beforehand. The Villans haven’t lost three in a row since November 2020 under Dean Smith, the third game of which was against Brighton.

The Seagulls haven’t won any of their last five away Premier League matches (D3 L2) since a 2-0 win over Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest. That win is their only one of their last seven away wins against a manager currently in the competition.

Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored more goals (9) and has more goal involvements (11) against Brighton than he does any other opponent in the Premier League.

Morgan Rogers has been involved in four goals in his last five home games for Aston Villa in all competitions (3 goals, 1 assist), while he’s been involved in four goals in his last three against Brighton in the Premier League (1 goal, 3 assists).

Brighton’s James Milner – who could equal or break the all-time Premier League appearance record in this match – played 100 times in the competition for Aston Villa between 2005 and 2010. He already has the record for most Premier League games played against former teams (61).

Team news

Aston Villa

Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, Boubacar Kamara, Andres Garcia and Alysson are unavailable due to injuries.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Jan Paul van Hecke, Stefanos Tzimas, Adam Webster, Solly March, Mats Wieffer and Yasin Ayari are sidelined with injuries.

Predicted line-ups

Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Onana, Luiz, Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Watkins.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, Dunk, Boscagli, De Cuyper, Gomez, Baleba, Gross, Minteh, Welbeck, Mitoma.