English Premier
2026-02-11 - Aston Villa vs Brighton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 11th February 2025 - Kick Off 7:30pm
This game is live on TV
Aston Villa
Despite the strong run of form, Unai Emery had voiced his frustrations around the limitations for his Aston Villa squad just last month. With commitments in the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup, Emery has insisted that his Aston Villa team are overachieving by making the progress they have and the pressure is ramping up in the chase to return to the Champions League.
They dropped two points on Saturday after leading at the Vitality Stadium, although the overall performance had some of the Aston Villa players speaking like it was a point gained. Any realistic hopes of challenging for the Premier League title look to have faded and Aston Villa are 3rd in the standings and just 4 points clear of 5th placed Chelsea. The side have an 8-1-3 record at Villa Park, but a couple of recent setbacks have slowed progress being made.
Aston Villa had won 3 in a row in all competitions, but have only picked up a single point from the last couple of Premier League games. They had won 11 in a row at Villa Park in all competitions, but Aston Villa have now suffered consecutive 0-1 home Premier League defeats to Everton and Brentford.
A number of key midfielders are missing, but those are long-term absentees and the squad that was available on Saturday should be ready to go again.
Brighton
There are big ambitions in the Brighton boardroom, but a loss to rivals Crystal Palace on Sunday have put the pressure on Fabian Hurzeler to meet those expectations. The investment made in the last couple of seasons have been with European Football in mind, but Brighton have struggled for consistency and there will be one or two worrying about the way things are trending behind them in the Premier League.
Instead of thinking about the top seven and European Football, Brighton have slipped to 14th in the Premier League table and they have an 8 point advantage to West Ham United in the relegation zone. That gap will feel much smaller if West Ham United upset Manchester United twenty-four hours before Brighton travel to the West Midlands with the 2-4-6 away record produced so far this season.
Brighton did beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Third Round last month, but the 0-1 defeat to Crystal Palace this past weekend means they have won 1 of the last 12 Premier League games played. The Seagulls have lost 3 of the last 5 away League fixtures, but had drawn consecutive fixtures at West Ham United and Manchester City prior to the 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
Jan Paul van Hecke missed the game on Sunday and has to be considered a doubt on a short week. The manager has been rotating his starting eleven without turning the results around, while reports that Brighton accepted a bid for Lewis Dunk in the January transfer window suggests there is some disharmony behind the scenes.
Head to Head
Back in December, Brighton led Aston Villa 2-0 at the Amex Stadium, but were eventually beaten 3-4.
They had lost on 3 consecutive visits to Villa Park, but Brighton scored a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw in the last game here in December 2024.
Prediction
The last couple of weeks have been difficult for both Aston Villa and Brighton, although it is the former who have at least picked up a couple of victories around some of those setbacks.
Consecutive home Premier League defeats by the same 0-1 scoreline have slowed the momentum, but Aston Villa were incredibly unlucky against Brentford and would win a lot more games than they lose if they produce that standard every week.
Unai Emery was quite upbeat after that defeat compared with his body language following the 0-1 loss to Everton and he will be expecting his players to continue setting a high standard. Aston Villa were not very good on Saturday at the Vitality Stadium, but the resiliency to earn a point has to be admired and they are usually much better at Villa Park.
The visiting team on Wednesday have been in a prolonged slump and the pressure is building on Fabian Hurzeler as Brighton manager.
Simply put, Brighton are not keeping enough clean sheets and they are not scoring enough goals so it is little surprise that they have won 1 of the last 12 Premier League games played. The 8 point buffer to the relegation zone should be comfortable enough to not have to panic, but Brighton were expecting to push for European Football and are falling well short of their goals.
Credit has to be given to Brighton for the fact they are always seemingly competitive, even if the fine margins have trended towards more negative results than positive. They had drawn back to back away games at West Ham United and Manchester City, while Brighton had won a FA Cup tie at Old Trafford last month, but the 2-1 loss at Craven Cottage underlines some fragility.
Brighton should cause some problems for Aston Villa, but the home team will believe they have the qualities in the final third to make things very tough for The Seagulls.
Losing to Everton and Brentford in the last couple of home games has to be a concern for Aston Villa, but they remain an intriguing price to win this game at Villa Park and may have just enough to secure another narrow victory over this opponent.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton
