Brentford vs Aston Villa prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-04-21 14:00.
Brentford’s five-match winless run in the Premier League (PL) has stunted their ambitions of European qualification (D2, L3), even if that’s something manager Thomas Frank believes “shouldn’t even be possible” for a club with their limited resources. He’ll have his eye on getting back to winning ways as soon as he can as they've a particularly challenging looking run-in, including finishing the season at home to Manchester City.
Part of that run-in is welcoming in-form Aston Villa to West London, although the Bees might fancy their chances in this one and reducing the seven–point gap, having won all four league H2Hs held here this millennium. As their recent 2-1 defeat to Newcastle was their first PL home loss in 11 games (W5, D5), Frank must feel that if his side’s form is going to turn anywhere, then it ought to be here.
However, the threat of a resurgent Villa side under Unai Emery can’t be ignored as the relegation-threatened team he took over in November are now in a European qualification position following five straight PL wins. That’s the first time they’ve managed five consecutive top-flight victories since April 1998 under John Gregory, a season in which they eventually finished seventh.
After dismantling Newcastle 3-0 last time out, the Villans can envisage bettering that position, particularly if they remain dangerous on the road as their only PL away loss since the start of November came at Manchester City (W6, D1). As they led inside 25 minutes in each of the last three of those games, another fast start could be what they need to claim a rare win at this ground.
Players to watch: Ivan Toney netted before half-time in two of Brentford’s last four fixtures while Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored in a club-record six consecutive league away games and contributed to more PL goals than anybody since the post-World Cup restart (G12, A3).
Hot streak: All three PL H2Hs – which saw a home win each and a draw – saw more goals before half-time than after (W1, D1, L1).