Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has named his starting XI to face Brentford at Villa Park this evening.
Emi Martinez starts in goal despite suffering a hairline fracture to his finger in Villa's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday, while Tyrone Mings and Leon Bailey are included in the side in place of Pau Torres and Jaden Philogene.
From back to front, Martinez plays in goal behind a defence of Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Mings and Lucas Digne. Youri Tielemans partners Boubacar Kamara in midfield, while Bailey starts from the right and John McGinn on the left as Morgan Rogers supports Ollie Watkins in attack.
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Emery has never had a nine-match winless run in his managerial career, while Brentford are without a league win at Villa Park in their 135-year history. They head to the second city without a win in their opening six top-flight away matches of a season for the third time, following a run of nine in 1938-39 and seven in 2022-23.
Thomas Frank's side have the joint-worst away record in the division, alongside Southampton, who play at Villa on Saturday. Despite that, Brentford currently sit above Villa in the league table because they have the best home record.
Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Kamara, Tielemans, Bailey, McGinn, Rogers, Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Maatsen, Torres, Carlos, Bogarde, Barkley, Buendia, Philogene, Duran.
Brentford XI: Flekken, van den Berg, Colins, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter, Janet, Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard, Schade, Mbeumo, Wissa.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Thiago, Carvalho, Mee, Meghoma, Konak, Trevitt, Roerslev, Maghoma.
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