(Football news) The Seagulls lost by a slim 1-0 margin at Chelsea on the same day that the Lions were defeated 2-1 at home by Everton. Aston Villa have had an erratic recent run of play, winning and losing in each of their last six games across all competitions while juggling domestic and European obligations.
Unai Emery’s team quickly bounced back from a 3-2 loss to Legia Warsaw in their first Europa Conference League group-stage match by defeating Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League last weekend. However, they have since been put to the test by Everton in the EFL Cup, exiting in the third round for the second year in a row.
Seven minutes from time, Boubacar Kamara scored his first goal for Villa, but it didn’t matter because James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin had already helped Everton advance to the fourth round with goals just before and after halftime, respectively.
Emery’s team can be certain of victory on Saturday in light of their strong home record in the Premier League, which stopped with Villa’s loss to the Toffees. Villa had previously won three straight matches by an aggregate score of 10-1 prior to that.
In fact, Villa has won all four of their recent league encounters with Brighton, including a 2-1 home victory on the final day of the previous season, and has won each of their last nine home games in the top flight, their best winning streak in front of their own supporters since a run of 13 straight victories between February and October 1983.
With a 3-1 comeback win over Bournemouth in the Premier League last weekend wedged between a Europa League loss to AEK Athens and the midweek loss to Chelsea in the EFL Cup, Brighton has, like Aston Villa, won one and lost two of their most recent three games in three separate tournaments.
The Seagulls had more than 60% of the ball at Stamford Bridge, but they lacked finesse in the final third, placing only two of their 13 efforts on goal. Nicolas Jackson’s goal in the 50th minute broke the tie.
With three difficult games against Aston Villa, Marseille, and Liverpool coming up in eight days, Roberto De Zerbi was dissatisfied with the outcome and urged the younger members of his team to “progress quickly” throughout their busy fixture calendar.
Brighton has established itself in the Premier League this season, winning five of their first six games and scoring a league-high 18 goals in the process, despite their exit from the EFL Cup and a sluggish start in Europe.
Brighton is looking to win six of its first seven games in a league season for the first time since the 2015-16 season when they were playing in the Championship. Brighton is currently third in the table and three points ahead of Aston Villa in sixth. They have already defeated Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers away from home this season.
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