Preview: Aston Villa vs Brentford - prediction, team news, lineups

Looking to continue their unlikely title charge into the concluding months of the campaign, Aston Villa welcome Brentford to Villa Park for a Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon.

The Villans secured a standout success at St James' Park last weekend, whilst the Bees suffered a rare home defeat to Nottingham Forest in West London.

Match preview

After an uncharacteristic home slip-up against Jack Grealish's Everton in the Premier League on January 18, Aston Villa have steered their trophy-chasing ship back on course, winning three straight matches across all competitions.

Despite falling two goals behind following an insipid opening 60 minutes against Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League on Thursday, the Villans managed to complete a comeback victory to seal a top-two spot in the League Phase rankings.

Last weekend's win at Newcastle United coupled with Arsenal's home defeat to Manchester United means that Unai Emery's side are just four points behind the pace-setting Gunners at the very summit of the Premier League standings.

Collecting an outstanding 25 points from 11 top-flight Second City matches so far, only Manchester City (29) and the Gunners (29) can boast better home records than Villa, although they did lose to a plucky Everton side last time out in the league at Villa Park.

Whilst the club chase new experiences and heights by challenging for their first-ever Premier League crown, the January transfer window has brought about a strong sense of nostalgia, with both Douglas Luiz and Tammy Abraham securing moves back to the Birmingham-based side.

© Imago / IMAGO / Sports Press Photo

Heading into Sunday afternoon's trip to fortress Villa Park, Brentford are on a mission to avoid three straight competitive defeats for the first time since December 2024 after going off the Europe-chasing track in recent weeks.

Keith Andrews's overachievers have suffered consecutive losses in the Premier League to Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, with goals from Igor Jesus and Taiwo Awoniyi last weekend meaning that the Tricky Trees became only the second side to beat the Bees at the Gtech Community Stadium in 2025-26.

Despite their deviation from success lately, Brentford still find themselves in a favourable position given the pre-season chatter of a possible relegation dogfight, with Sunday's visitors placed in eighth, only four points behind Chelsea in fifth.

While only four teams possess a poorer away record than the Bees in the Premier League to date, the Londoners have performed admirably on the road in recent times, winning three of their most recent quartet of outings across league and FA Cup duties.

Already breaking the record for the most goals scored by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign, Igor Thiago has eased the pain Brentford pain of losing Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo over the summer, with the towering forward on 16 top-flight strikes after 23 matches.

Aston Villa Premier League form:

W L W D L W 

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

D W L W W W

Brentford Premier League form:

W D W W L L

Brentford form (all competitions):

D W W W L L

Team News

© Imago

Aston Villa suffered a major injury scare during the win over Salzburg on Thursday night, with leading goalscorer Ollie Watkins forced off with a suspected hamstring injury.

The England international is set for scans to determine the seriousness of the issue, meaning that new arrival Abraham is likely to make his second full debut for the Villans this weekend.

Watkins joins other key players such as Boubacar Kamara (knee) and Youri Tielemans (ankle) in the medical room, with the former sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.

A stalwart for Villa from their days in the Championship until the present moment, John McGinn is out for a couple of weeks because of a knee problem.

Brentford are sweating over the fitness of Kristoffer Ajer and Mikkel Damsgaard, with the pair forced off during the first half of the defeat to Forest.

Bees boss Andrews is hopeful that they could feature this weekend, but Sepp van den Berg and Dango Ouattara are preparing to take up positions in the starting XI.

Long-term absentees for the visitors remain in the form of Fabio Carvalho (knee) and full-back Josh Dasilva.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Luiz; Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Abraham

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Kelleher; Kayode, Van den Berg, Collins, Henry; Yarmoliuk, Janelt; Jensen, Ouattara, Schade; Thiago

We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Brentford

With a host of new arrivals preparing to enter the XI, there is set to be a fresh energy about Aston Villa as they continue their title charge.

Losing eight of their 11 away matches in the Premier League this term, Brentford are in line for tricky afternoon in the Second City.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.