{"id":49803,"date":"2022-01-03T00:39:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T13:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/match-preview-brentford-v-aston-villa\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T06:49:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T19:49:08","slug":"match-preview-brentford-v-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/match-preview-brentford-v-aston-villa\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Preview: Brentford v Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sunday 2nd January 2022
\nPremier League
\nBrentford Community Stadium
\nKO: 14.00 GMT
\nLive on Sky Sports<\/p>\n
Aston Villa will kick off 2022<\/a> with a trip to Brentford to take on Thomas Franks team at the Brentford Community Stadium.<\/p>\n The boss, Steven Gerrard will return to the dugout after missing out on the defeat to Chelsea due to Covid-10 protocol.<\/p>\n Villa will be hoping to return to winning ways against a Brentford side who sit two points and positions below them in the Premier League table.<\/p>\n Gerrard\u2019s men have not played since Boxing day after their game against Leeds was postponed due to Leeds not having enough fit players to play the game.<\/p>\n Brentford on the other hand have failed to win in both their festive games. An away defeat at Brighton on boxing day was followed by a 0-1 defeat to Manchester City at home a few days later.<\/p>\n In recent seasons, Brentford have always caused Villa a problem or two and it has been a game Villa have struggled to pick up points. Frank\u2019s side will look to press as much as possible while trying to exploit you from set-pieces.<\/p>\n They tend to try and play a narrow kind of game which will be interesting with Gerrard\u2019s compact style since becoming Villa boss.<\/p>\n Home and away see Brentford with 3 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats so far this campaign resulting in 10 points from a possible 27. Villa have won 3 and lost 6 on their travels picking up 9 points from a possible 27.<\/p>\n The two sides didn\u2019t meet last season due to Brentford being promoted from the Championship.<\/p>\n Steven Gerrard described Villa\u2019s team as being in decent shape pending Covid testing protocol.<\/p>\nAston Villa Team News<\/h3>\n