Aston Villa vs Brentford. Sky Bet Championship.
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Wednesday 22 August 2018 20:44, UK
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce is expected to make few changes to his starting line-up for the visit of Brentford.
Midfielder Keinan Davis and forward Scott Hogan remain out with groin problems, while Callum O'Hare (knee) is nearing a return having played 45 minutes against Manchester United U23s last week.
Villa dropped points for the first time this season in last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Ipswich.
Brentford have an unchanged squad to choose from, with the 18 players involved in Saturday's win over Sheffield Wednesday all fit. Josh Clarke could come into contention, but Rico Henry (knee) and Emiliano Marcondes remain out.
Josh DaSilva has signed a four-year contract with the Bees after leaving Arsenal but the 19-year-old England youth international midfielder is unlikely to feature at Villa Park, while reported Stoke target Ryan Woods is also unlikely to start.
Aston Villa are winless in their last four Championship matches against Brentford (D2 L2), last beating them in any competition in an FA Cup tie in February 1953.
Brentford have never won away from home at Aston Villa in six attempts in all competitions (D4 L2), drawing their last two Championship visits there.
Including last season's play-offs, Aston Villa have only lost one of their previous 17 league games at Villa Park (W11 D5).
Brentford have suffered just one defeat in their previous 12 Championship games (W6 D5), scoring at least one goal in 11 of those fixtures.
Aston Villa haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last five Championship games, their longest such run since August 2017 (a run of seven games conceded in).
Neal Maupay has been directly involved in six of Brentford's eight goals in the Championship so far this season (three goals and three assists).
This is another tough one - Brentford have had a wonderful start to the season but I suppose you could also say the same thing about Villa. It would've been a tougher assignment had it been at Griffin Park but the Bees will be confident after a very good performance against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday. I feel this could be a very close game.
Prutton predicts: 2-2 with Jonathan Kodjia to score first (60/1 with Sky Bet)
