Brighton vs Aston Villa Predictions

• Brighton have won four of their last five home league matches
• Aston Villa have not beaten a current top-half club away from home
• Villa have failed to score in three of four away league games against top-half clubs

Clubs can catapult themselves into the title race

Brighton have a freshness edge that could propel them to an important Premier League win over Aston Villa on Wednesday. It’s a big week for both of these clubs as back-to-back victories could catapult them from the top-four conversation into the title race.

The Seagulls have two home fixtures against Villa and West Ham and there is little doubt which one will take more winning. Unai Emery’s side are in excellent overall form, although their away results are not quite as impressive as perhaps they should be given a relatively soft run of road trips so far.

Villa lost at Brentford in August and claimed two draws from their next two trips to Everton and Sunderland before bagging their first away win at Tottenham. However, Spurs’ lamentable home form makes that 2-1 scoreline look less significant and Emery’s side subsequently lost 2-0 at Anfield to a woefully out-of-form Liverpool.

Rogers could be running out of gas

They got back on track against an injury-hit and listless Leeds, courtesy of a Morgan Rogers double and you wonder where they would be without his contributions. The England star probably had his worst game of the season on Sunday as Villa laboured to a 1-0 home win over rock-bottom Wolves and fatigue may have been a factor.

Rogers has played for the longest of all Villa players this season, missing only 12 minutes of their combined 13 league games. When you add in the amount of football he has played for England too, it would be no surprise if he is feeling the effects at this stage of the campaign.

Emery could give him a break from the starting XI here with a huge clash against Arsenal looming. It would be a risk to both play him and leave him out given how solid Brighton’s home form has been.

Albion’s energy levels may decide it

Fabian Hurzeler’s side have won four of their last five league games at the Amex and no one could complain about the standard of opponents in the list of victims, which includes Manchester City, Newcastle and in-form Brentford.

Back the Seagulls to see off Villa’s challenge with the hosts holding a freshness edge because of fewer games played and arguably a deeper squad too. Villa have failed to score in three of four away league games against top-half clubs and have the third-lowest expected goals on the road in the division.

It is tempting to take Albion to win to nil here, even if they have only kept one clean sheet at home in the league, but the odds-against price on a home win is plenty good enough.