Aston Villa’s first away game of the Premier League season takes them to west London to face a new-look Brentford team.
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Brentford v Villa Matchday LIVE
Villa predicted line-up v Brentford
Unai Emery will be without centre-back Ezri Konsa after his red card against Newcastle last Saturday.
Adapting the same back four to accommodate Pau Torres might seem to be the obvious play but I think there’s a better than evens chance Emery sticks with what he did on the day. Boubacar Kamara dropped in and did a fine job alongside Tyrone Mings.
First-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez returns from suspension.
Aston Villa predicted line-up
Brentford v Villa match preview
After a false start against Newcastle on opening day, Villa will be desperate to get their Premier League season up and running against Brentford.
Drawing with the Magpies isn’t a bad result in isolation but Villa’s performance, the scoreline, the lack of chances and a near total lack of incident amounted to the dampest of squibs.
Saturday is a chance to reset and go again. Enforced changes at the back could have a knock-on effect further up the pitch, giving Emery and opportunity to rethink the set-up that felt a little disjointed at Villa Park last week.
Brentford fared rather worse in their first game. The Bees were 3-0 down by half time against Nottingham Forest in Keith Andrews’ first game in charge, and while they did pull one back in the second half it was a reminder that Brentford have been picked apart.
Andrews himself is in post because previous manager Thomas Frank moved on to Tottenham Hotspur after seven years in charge. Bryan Mbeumo has gone. Christian Nørgaard has gone. Mark Flekken too. Brentford have replaced each of those players directly but the overall effect is not one of improvement.
For the second match in a row, Villa will face a team shorn of their striker not by a transfer but by his determination to make one happen. Alexander Isak is digging his heels in at Newcastle and Yoane Wissa, who scored as many non-penalty league goals as the Swede last season, is doing to very same to Brentford.
Wissa won’t play against Villa on Saturday. He could. But, because he’s decided he wants to leave, he won’t. How utterly pathetic.