Overview
Brighton is preparing to enter their 10th consecutive season in the Premier League after finishing eighth in two seasons. Under Fabian Hurzeler, this team continues to aim for a more stable season, despite facing a tight schedule from the beginning.
Brighton just drew with Tromso 0-0 in the first leg of the Conference League play-offs in the middle of the week. They launched 25 shots, of which 6 were on target.
Before the trip to Norway, Brighton had a fairly impressive preparation. They won all 4 friendly matches with Wycombe, Strasbourg, Roma and Bologna, scoring a total of 12 goals. However, Hurzeler's team needs to quickly regain sharpness after the recent goalless draw.
Brighton closed the Premier League last season with two defeats against Leeds and Man United. They have not lost 3 consecutive matches in the league since March 2022, when the team was still led by Graham Potter and went through a 6-defeat streak.
Another point of support for Brighton lies in the performance on the opening day. Since the 1-3 defeat to Chelsea in the first round of the 2020-2021 season, they have been unbeaten in all 5 opening matches, with 4 wins and 1 draw.
However, Aston Villa is the opponent that makes Brighton unable to be subjective. The Midlands team has won 9 out of 14 encounters with Brighton in the Premier League, only losing 2 and drawing 3. Villa is also the team that caused Brighton to drop the most points when they are leading, with a total of 13 points.
Aston Villa enters the new season as a team that regularly enters the top group. Unai Emery helped the club return to the Champions League last season after finishing fourth for the second time in 3 seasons.
Villa also just had a memorable year when they defeated Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final in May. However, their preparation for the new season was not really stable. Villa won 3 and lost 4 in 7 friendly matches, before losing 1-2 to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup.
This summer also witnessed many personnel changes at Villa Park. Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa and Lucas Digne have all left. Emery's team has used revenue from these deals to bring in 7 new players and is expected to continue to strengthen the force before the transfer deadline on September 1.
Villa needs to improve their performance on the Premier League opening day. Since returning to the top league in the 2019-2020 season, they have only won 2 out of 7 opening matches, besides 1 draw and 4 defeats.
However, head-to-head history is on the visiting team's side. Villa has won 8 of the last 10 matches against Brighton in the Premier League, only drawing 1 and losing 1. They are also unbeaten in all 4 recent matches against Brighton in the highest league, with 3 wins and 1 draw, scoring 10 goals.
Expected lineup:
Verbruggen, Weiffer, Dunk, Vuskovic, Kadioglu, Ayari, Gross, Gomez, Hinshelwood, De Cuyper, Rutter.
Aston Villa: Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Maatsen, Kamara, Hemmings, McGinn, Barkley, Buendia, Watkins.
The match between Brighton and Aston Villa takes place at 8:00 PM on August 23rd (Vietnam time).
