PREVIEW | Brentford vs Aston Villa - team news, lineups, predictions | OneFootball

Brentford take on Aston Villa at the Gtech Community Stadium this Saturday as the Premier League rolls into its second weekend.

It’s a new era for the Bees, with Keith Andrews now in charge after Thomas Frank’s switch to Spurs. His first game didn’t go to plan though, ending in a 3-1 defeat away at Nottingham Forest.

Villa, on the other hand, opened their campaign with a solid but somewhat flat 0-0 draw against Newcastle. Defensively sound, yes, but they’ll be hoping to show a bit more spark going forward this time.

All signs point to a tight affair, with both sides still settling into their early-season rhythm. The last time these two met, Villa edged it 1-0.

The Fan Zone

Neil Dunworth (For The Love of Paul McGrath): Villa’s opening day draw with Newcastle was a flat affair and one that Villa boss Unai Emery will want to see improved upon. Playing at home, the spark in attack wasn’t there.

They also have had the black cloud of SCR/PSR hanging over them, so football feels like a secondary issue for the fanbase.

This coming game at the G-Tech will be an opportunity for Villa to bring football back into focus. They will have to do that without Ezri Konsa, who will serve a ban following his red card for a pullback on Anthony Gordon.

Villa will be buoyed that Young Player of the Year Morgan Rogers will be one more week removed from that ankle injury sustained over the off-season, and he will be looking to improve on last week also.

Villa fans will also be looking for an addition of pace in attack via Malen and Guessand should Emery see fit to change up his more conservative approach from last week. All eyes will be on whether Tielemans starts in the 10 or reverts back to the 6, and if Onana keeps his place in the team after a good, solid defensive performance. Kamara could be deployed at RCB and if that is the case Onana and Tielemans could line up together in the pivot positions.

Emi Martinez is a shoe-in to start in goal after his suspension but Villa fans will be delighted with the performance of Marco Bizots debut last week. Having a solid back-up GK is something Villa have wanted for a while and they may have found that man in Bizot.

I see Villa travelling to Brentford in hope with a tinge of expectation, and with that in mind, I am going for a 2-1 win for Aston Villa.

Prediction: 1-2

Unavailable

Brentford

Aston Villa

Last starting XIs

Brentford ( vs Nottingham Forest 2025-08-17): Caoimhin Kelleher, Michael Kayode, Nathan Collins, Sepp van den Berg, Rico Henry, Yehor Yarmoliuk, Mathias Jensen, Keane Lewis-Potter, Antoni Milambo, Fábio Carvalho, Igor Thiago

Aston Villa ( vs Newcastle 2025-08-16): Marco Bizot, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne, Amadou Onana, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins

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