Aston Villa welcome Brentford to Villa Park when they return to the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Villa are four points behind the top of the Premier League and will be looking to continue an exemplary record in matches immediately following the European fixtures.
Manager Unai Emery knows the Europa League inside and out and has also turned winning subsequent league games into an art form, but Villa know all about their opponents in the next competition and certainly won’t take them lightly.
Will Villa be stung by the bees again?
Brentford have achieved some impressive results this season, not least when you consider the staff they lost during the summer transfer window.
Yes, we were all talking about Thomas Frank, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard as if they would be impossible to replace in one go. And yes, we may have underestimated Keith Andrews and his team because of that, but I still maintain that my doubts were based on how good those players had been.
Underestimation was not an issue when Villa were defeated at Brentford in the first away game of the season and then on penalties in the third round of the Carabao Cup. The Bees have proven many of us wrong this season, but there’s no denying they’ve also left Villa cold.
Emery took his team to the Gtech Community Stadium twice in the first five matches, losing 1–0 in the Premier League in the second of a four-match goalless run to kick off the campaign.
Harvey Elliott scored Villa’s first goal of 2025/26 in a 1-1 draw against Brentford in the Carabao Cup, a tie they lost on penalties. Those visits to west London became emblematic of a poor start, but we now know they were not representative of Villa at all.
At the time, it would have been surprising to hear that Sunday’s match would be between third and eighth place. Brentford have slipped out of what is likely to be fifth place in the Champions League in recent weeks, losing to Chelsea and Nottingham Forest in their last two games.
They have been beaten away from home eight times in the Premier League, but we know first-hand that they have the tools to trouble Villa on a fair wind.
Villa team news
Emery knows he will be without Boubacar Kamara for the rest of the season, while fellow midfielders Youri Tielemans and John McGinn are expected to be out for a little longer and just under two months respectively.
Right-back Andrés García and winger Alysson have both been ruled out of the match against Brentford due to more minor injuries, but Ross Barkley could be included. The midfielder is expected to return soon.
Villa are sweating over the fitness of former Brentford striker Ollie Watkins, who was sent off in the first half of Thursday’s Europa League victory over Red Bull Salzburg. He will be assessed before Villa face his old club, but Emery seems relatively confident this is not a long-term problem.
That could open the door for new recruit Tammy Abraham to start earlier than planned. He and loanee Douglas Luiz in midfield are both available against the Bees.
Villa predicted line-up against Brentford
Judging from Villa’s recent transfer history, I suspect that Watkins will not be ready to face Brentford and that Abraham will indeed be handed his second Villa debut, more than seven years after the first.
Keeping Luiz on the bench feels like a more typical Emery choice. I don’t think it will be long before he is in the team, but I think Villa will keep faith in Lamare Bogarde in this case.
Elsewhere, Evann Guessand’s departure means the right-wing forward now has a clear candidate in Jadon Sancho.
I expect Emery to return to what I think is his preferred trio alongside the striker, sans McGinn, and indeed to his preferred back four, reunited after significant changes to the defense in midweek.
Where can you watch Villa v Brentford?
Villa’s home match against Brentford will be broadcast live Sky Sports Premier League in Great Britain.
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➡️ Watch Aston Villa v Brentford: start time, TV channels and streams
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