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

Brentford will resume their EFL Cup campaign on Tuesday night when they host the struggling Aston Villa at the Gtech Community Stadium in a third round clash.

The hosts defeated Bournemouth 2-0 in the second round to progress to this stage, while the visitors are entering the competition for the first time this season.

Match preview

Brentford recorded a superb 2024-25 Premier League campaign, finishing 10th in the standings with 56 points from their 38 games after securing 16 wins, eight draws and 14 defeats.

While the Bees would have been hopeful of building on that result this season, Brentford endured a challenging summer that left many people expecting them to struggle during this campaign.

Key figures Thomas Frank, Yoane Wissa, Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard all left the club, while Brentford appointed Keith Andrews as the new boss in what is his first senior managerial role.

The Bees have gone on to have a mixed start to the 2025-26 campaign, losing two, drawing one and winning one of their four Premier League games - though they have shown plenty of encouraging signs in those matches, including recording a dramatic 2-2 draw with Chelsea thanks to a 93rd-minute equaliser from Fabio Carvalho.

Brentford did also defeat Premier League opposition in their first match in the EFL Cup, with goals from Igor Thiago and Carvalho helping the Bees secure a 2-0 win over Bournemouth in their second round meeting.

Now drawn against another top-flight side in the third round, Brentford will be aiming to replicate their 1-0 win over Aston Villa on matchday two of the Premier League season, a game which saw debutant Dango Ouattara net the winner.

That was one of a string of poor results for Aston Villa at the start of the new campaign, with the Villans still searching for their first win after two draws and two defeats.

Particularly remarkable is Aston Villa's faltering form in front of goal, as Unai Emery's side remain the only team in England's top seven divisions yet to score in 2025-26, recording 0-0, 1-0, 3-0 and 0-0 results in their first four fixtures.

Emery will be desperate for his side to end both their search for a goal and win when they take on Brentford, but their record at Gtech is far from favourable.

Aston Villa have won only two of their last eight trips to the Gtech Community Stadium, alongside one draw and five defeats, including the 1-0 loss earlier this term.

The Villans also have a rather lacklustre recent record in this competition, having only progressed past the third round on two occasions in the last five seasons.

Since suffering a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the 2019-20 EFL Cup final, Aston Villa have reached the fourth round just twice, suffering third round eliminations in the other three campaigns, leaving history stacking against them heading into this one.

Brentford EFL Cup form:

Brentford form (all competitions):

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Team News

Andrews named a heavily rotated side for Brentford's second round clash with Bournemouth, handing starts to the likes of Hakon Valdimarsson, Kristoffer Ajer, Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry, and a similarly changed team is expected on Tuesday.

Mikkel Damsgaard could return to the starting lineup after missing the 2-2 draw with Chelsea due to illness, potentially starting behind an attacking duo of Carvalho and Kevin Schade.

In defence, Ethan Pinnock may keep his place in the starting team after starting against Chelsea and in the EFL Cup second round, anticipated to partner Ajer and Sepp van den Berg, with Valdimarsson starting in goal.

As for Aston Villa, Amadou Onana, Andres Garcia, Boubacar Kamara and Ross Barkley are all unlikely to feature due to injury and availability issues, while Lucas Digne may be rested after sustaining a head injury in their recent draw with Everton.

New signings Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho could be handed their full debuts against Brentford, with Emery hoping their introduction will spark Villa's faltering attack into life.

Victor Lindelof could also be handed a first start for the club in defence, potentially featuring alongside Ian Maatsen, Pau Torres and Matty Cash.

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Valdimarsson; Ajer, Van den Berg, Pinnock; Hickey, Onyeka, Jensen, Henry; Damsgaard; Schade, Carvalho

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Bizot; Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen; Bogarde, Tielemans; McGinn, Elliott, Sancho; Malen

We say: Brentford 2-0 Aston Villa

Brentford will be full of confidence given their dramatic comeback against Chelsea and earlier victory against Aston Villa this season, while the Villans are sure to be lacking belief after their miserable start to the campaign.

Alongside Brentford's strong home record against Aston Villa, we expect the Bees to secure the victory on Tuesday, as well as extending Villa's goalless start to the campaign.

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