England Premier League
Sunday 23rd October 2022
Kick off at 2pm BST
Venue: Villa Park
Match Preview:
Steven Gerrard has been sacked as manager of Aston Villa and that will be the huge story surrounding this game as the club return home to play Brentford. Managers have been sacked for a less win rate, Gerrard was at 32%, but you sensed that there was a distance between himself and the fans and perhaps that extended to the players. The club had lost 6 of their opening 11 matches and are in 17th place with only goal difference keeping them out of the bottom three. Gerrard’s sacking came just 90 minutes after their midweek clash with Fulham in which they were soundly beaten 3-0.
As far as form is concerned for Villa they have lost their last two games and haven’t won since beating Southampton almost five weeks ago. But everyone will be talking about who will take over and even Brentford manager Thomas Frank has been mentioned. Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery are among the favourites but the favourite has emerged as Ruben Amorim the manager of Sporting, the Portuguese club who have qualified for the Champions League and won the Portuguese league in 2021, we will have to wait and see how that develops.
It went under the radar in midweek but Brentford got a terrific draw against Chelsea at home with that game finishing 0-0. The Bees were up against an inform Chelsea side who had won their last 4 league games so to get the point and keep a clean sheet would have felt like victory. Indeed the club are in decent form with just one loss from their last four games. They are in 10th place and could move up a few places with a win here. Away form though has not been as good and they are yet to win a game with three draws and two defeats. The Bees last away game ended in a 5-1 battering against Newcastle.
Team News:
Aston Villa: Ludwig Augustinsson and Lucas Digne are nearing a return but are thought to still be major doubts and are being pencilled in to return next week. Boubacar Kamara is out until the end of the year with a knee injury and Diego Carlos remains sidelined with his Achilles.
Brentford: Aaron Hickey (ankle) and Pontus Jansson (hamstring) have both been ruled out until the end of the year. Christian Norgaard should be back at the end of this month from his Achilles. Thomas Strakosha is out until the Christmas period due to his ankle injury.
Aston Villa vs Brentford Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished 1-1.
It’s been 9 games since Aston Villa last beat Brentford.
4 of the last 5 games have seen both teams to score.
Aston Villa vs Brentford Prediction:
It’s all change at Villa and must be quite surreal as a fan to be going to the ground where your team are suddenly managerless and seemingly have no direction even if they believed this to be happening after disappointing results and rumours that Gerrard was going to lose the job. There is no manager in place and that is the reality. Brentford may well see this as an opportunity to beat Villa and if they can control the pace of the game in the early stages they have every chance to inflict many problems on the home side. Perhaps of note should be the interesting fact that if Villa were to win here they would be just 2 points behind Brentford and Thomas Frank’s job looks safe, that’s the way football can work sometimes.
We expect a quiet first half at least and both teams may well just be happy for the draw, that is why some value on the handicap for the away win might be the way to go here. But Villa need a replacement and need one quick just to stabilise the situation because they will be in for a difficult home game on Sunday.
Aston Villa vs Brentford Betting Tips:
Double Chance: Brentford win or draw at 1.72
Half Time Correct Score: 0-0 at 2.75
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