Aston Villa vs Brentford

Aston Villa and Brentford are set to square off against each other at Villa Park in their first-ever Premier League meeting.

Aston Villa picked themselves up from a disturbing 3-2 away loss to newly-promoted Watford on Matchday 1 to claim a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Newcastle United last time out. A 6-0 thumping of lower-league side Barrow in the Carabao Cup midweek saw them post back-to-back competitive triumphs ‘to nil’ for the first time since February. Free-scoring ‘Lions’ have notably bagged 2+ goals in five consecutive Premier League outings, last enjoying a longer such sequence in the top-flight in their victorious 1980/81 campaign. Villa should go into this showdown in high spirits, especially considering that they’ve gone undefeated in seven straight home Premier League matches against a new opposition (W5, D2) since a 3-2 loss to Stoke City in August 2008. Curiously, though, each of their last three league meetings with Brentford at Villa Park has ended level.

Meanwhile, after winning their season opener at long odds against Arsenal, Brentford again defied underdog status to ensure a goalless away draw against Crystal Palace last time out. The ‘Bees’ will now aim to become only the third newcomers in the Premier League history to keep a clean sheet in their first three top-flight games. A 3-1 home triumph against lower-division outfit Forest Green in the Carabao Cup weekend should further encourage Brentford’s hopes of extending their six-match unbeaten league streak against Aston Villa (W3, D3). But they’d still want to defy their ‘Villa Park jinx’ that has seen them go winless in all seven competitive visits to this venue (D5, L2). There could be plenty of late action here, given that four of Brentford’s five competitive goals this term have come on or beyond the 60th minute.