Brentford are sweating on the fitness of Mikkel Damsgaard after the midfielder suffered injury while on international duty.
The Denmark star returned to the London club after limping off during a 4-2 Nations League defeat to Portugal last week.
Damsgaard had featured in all five of Brentford’s league matches to this point, starting three out of five including the 3-0 win over Chelsea immediately prior to the break which underlined the Bees potential to once more challenge in the top half of this season’s Premier League.
Keith Andrews’ team sit fourth in the early season table, still unbeaten and will travel to Villa Park with a high level of confidence, having been the only side to beat Unai Emery’s men both home and away in the league last term.
They also triumphed on penalties in a Carabao Cup tie, with former Wolves skipper Andrews the only manager to boast a 100 per cent record against manager after three or more meetings.
Brentford’s victory at Villa Park in February was more impressive for the fact they played most of the match with 10-men after Kevin Schade was sent-off.
Dango Ouattara scored the only goal, before Tammy Abraham saw an equaliser controversially ruled out via a VAR check after it was decided the ball had gone out of play at the other end of the pitch.
Brentford went on to finish ninth and miss out on European football on goal difference. Their early season form has sparked hopes they can go even better this time around.
“It's been a good start,” said Andrews. “We have been competitive, we have had to dig deep, we have had to show loads of different traits in the opening weeks of the season which is what you always have to do in this league.”