Aston Villa travel to the Brentford Community Stadium for the first time to kick-off our opening fixture of 2022.
Both Aston Villa and Brentford will be looking to bounce back after defeats to title-chasing Chelsea and Manchester City respectively.
Let’s check out the Team News, Last Time Out, The Opposition with Griffin Park Grapevine and My Prediction.
TEAM NEWS
Steven Gerrard confirmed the Aston Villa absentees in his pre-match press conference:
“Leon Bailey will still be missing, and Marvelous Nakamba. Ashley Young has got an outside chance, he has a little fracture in his toe, but he is pushing to be available.
“Other than that, we should have the whole group available, dependent on Covid testing.”
Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa Manager
Villa will also be without their Captain Tyrone Mings due to him serving a suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards, here is what Steven Gerrard on Mings’ suspension
“Whoever is picked to replace Tyrone, whether it’s Kortney or Axel, they have to make sure that we don’t miss him.
“I’ve been really impressed with him, not just on the pitch but off it as well.”
Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa Manager
LAST TIME OUT
Aston Villa’s last fixture of 2021 was a home match against European Champions Chelsea who fell behind early on thanks to Matt Targett’s cross taking a deflection off of Reece James and through the hands of Edouard Mendy. Chelsea quickly replied as Matty Cash bought down Callum Hudson-Odoi inside the box. Jorginho stepped up and converted home despite Emi Martinez’s best attempts to put him off.
After a fairly decent first half, Villa failed to produce the same in the second half as Chelsea introduced Romelu Lukaku who proved too much for Mings to handle as he headed home to give Chelsea the lead. Towards the end of the half, after a late flurry of Villa attacks, Lukaku counter attacked and was bought down for Chelsea’s second penalty of the game which was put away.
On the other hand, it was a different story for Brentford in their last game against current league leaders Manchester City. Joao Cancelo was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time as a Brentford corner caused all sorts of trouble and needed a goal-line clearance. Kevin De Bruyne produced an incredible cross which Phil Foden got on the end of and tucked into the net. Arguably against the run of play, Manchester City was in front.
In the second half, De Bruyne and Foden combined once again but Foden’s header was just wide of the post. De Bruyne was involved yet again as his free-kick landed on the head of Laporte and into the back of the net but VAR intervened and the goal was ruled out for offside.
THE OPPOSITION
I interviewed Griffin Park Grapevine to gather his thoughts on the upcoming fixture.
Q. For Villa fans who are attending your new stadium for the first time, how would you describe the atmosphere at the Brentford Community Stadium?
The atmosphere is very good. The fans worked with the club to ensure we kept those in the old Ealing Road stand together at the new stadium and it worked pretty effectively. I am sure you saw the televised matches against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City where the pundits and commentators all mentioned how they were impressed with the atmosphere. The capacity of the stadium is around 17.500 which means that we don’t get too many PL tourists, so the stadium has a high percentage of hardcore Brentford fans in it unlike The Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford etc. The stadium is built on an extraordinarily small footprint too, which means that the gap between the pitch and the fans are the absolute minimum that UEFA specifies in order to fit in more stadium.
Griffin Park Grapevine
Q. You come into the game off the back of a 1-0 defeat to league leaders Manchester City in a game where you far from embarrassed yourselves, does that performance mean you are going to come into this game with confidence?
I don’t think we were unconfident about this season before. We’ve already beaten Arsenal and drew a pulsating game against Liverpool and scoring 3 goals in the process. However this is a league where even a tiny drop off in performance means that you will be punished. Also we are ravaged with injuries to key players, which in a newly-promoted side that hasn’t yet had the money from a few seasons exposed to understudies that are a level below the 1st XI
Griffin Park grapevine
Q. Who has been your three key players so far this season?
Norgaard – most tackles in the PL this season and runs our midfield. Toney – not scored as many goals as we (or he) have expected, but his all round play is outstanding, including in defence. Henry – a top-notch left-back who hasn’t let anyone from the top clubs we have played have the better of him, and has pace to round his opponent and deliver dangerous crosses.
Griffin Park grapevine
Finally, whats your score prediction?
1-0
Griffin Park Grapevine
MY PREDICTION
I am quite confident going into the game given that we haven’t lost to anyone outside of the top three under Gerrard but I know that Brentford will not be a pushover. I think we will see an end to end match with villa coming out on top as 4-2 winners.
Happy New Year. Ellis.
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