Aston Villa make the trip South to take on Brentford in the Premier League this Sunday.
Unai Emery’s side are unbeaten on their last five visits to London and although they’ve just recorded consecutive victories over Manchester City and Arsenal, history dictates that it’ll be tough to make it a sixth.
Aston Villa have only won one of their last ten fixtures against Brentford in league competition and arrive into this contest without some of their key personnel.
Douglas Luiz and Lucas Digne, who have started every match for Villa so far, are unavailable after picking up their fifth yellow cards of the season in the win over the Gunners.
Elsewhere, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans remain doubtful after coming off early in that fixture while missing the trip to Bosnia on Thursday.
With that in mind, Emery will be expected to make several changes to his side from last week’s triumph. Here is our predicted XI vs Brentford…
Aston Villa predicted XI vs Brentford
In goal, Emiliano Martinez was rested for their Europa Conference League clash against Zrinjski Mostar, but will return in between the sticks in the Premier League having kept four clean sheets in 15 outings.
The back line has been exceptional in recent weeks, emphasized by shutting out Man City and Arsenal, however, Emery is forced into making at least one change here.
While Ezri Konsa should continue in his new role at right-back with Diego Carlos and Pau Torres partnering in the centre, Digne’s suspension means Alex Moreno should come in for only his fourth top-flight appearance this term.
After performing exceptionally well last season, the 30-year-old has been hampered by injuries in this campaign and will want to put on a worthy audition for a future place in the team.
In midfield, Villa were dealt the devastating blow of Douglas Luiz’s suspension and Emery’s likely replacement for him will be Jacob Ramsey, who played in Thursday’s 1-1 draw.
Ramsey will be called upon to pair up with Boubacar Kamara, flanked by club captain John McGinn while Frenchman Moussa Diaby could come in for Leon Bailey if he isn’t deemed fit enough to start.
Bargain summer signing Tielemans is a doubt like Bailey, but he has started in an advanced midfield role in the last two matches and will slot in just behind the sensational Ollie Watkins.
