Key events
4 min Brighton race straight down the other end and Adingra shows his pace down the left, shooting for Olsen to save.
2 min Douglas Luiz drives through midfield and heâs one of various players in this Villa side who looks ready for a Champions League step-up. He moves the ball outside to Diaby who finds Rogers, and Buonanotte clumsily barges him over; he mightâve got a bit of the ball, though, so no penalty says both ref and VAR.
1 min Away we go!
âEmeryâs done way better than De Zerbi but there is like zero talk of him going anywhere,â writes Karen Asad. âDe Zerbi on the other hand… Is it because of Villaâs new-found status of a quasi-big club or of an acceptance that Emery wonât work in a so-called big job?â
Werenât Bayern interested in Emery? Iâm not sure if minds have been made up on him, but Iâd expect him to get another chance somewhere richer should he want one Taking over from Arséne Wenger at Arsenal, and inheriting the mess he did, is not conclusive evidence that he canât do it in such circumstances.
Email! âWorth remembering,â says Colin McGurn, that âVilla have Tyrone Mings, Emi BuendÃa, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara and Alex Moreno to come back from Injury and signed right back Kosta Nedeljkovic from Red Star Belgrade in January. Still need back up to Watkins, but more likely looking for starters than squad players in summer.â
So which current first-teamers are at risk?
And here come our teamsâ¦
Waiting for any Villa slip-up are Spurs. Donât laugh, mate! As it goes, I think of the Lillywhites as I do Liverpool, a team who took a lot longer to regress to the mean that they mightâve done, but whose results have finally caught up with their performances. Iâd be staggered if they were able to capitalise should things go wrong for the Villans.
Villa, meanwhile, will look to get the ball forward a bit quicker and will target Brighton in wide areas. But McGinn and Luiz will also look to break into the box and pick up bits and pieces, while Diaby and Bailey, with licence to express themselves, will swap about to pull defenders out of position.
Where is the game? Brighton will, I think, look to build patiently through midfield, playing off Welbeck and also looking for him in the box, with Pedro and Adingra looking to support. I imagine theyâll looking to cut in, with the full-backs supplying width to stretch Villaâs midfield across the pitch.
Iâm really looking forward to seeing how Morgan Rogers does today. Heâs got so much invention and potential, but even so, credit to Emery for integrating and trusting him; his success and that of Adam Wharton at Palace testify to the quality of the Championship.
Roberto De Zerbi speaks. He says playing without important players, especially the full-backs, changes something in build-up and âthe last 40 metresâ, hence the lack of goals and no wins in six. He respects Villa but they want to keep the ball, play football, and take a lot of shots.
So where do Villa â potentially fortified with Champions League money â need to strengthen this summer? A deputy for Ollie Watkins, perhaps, a right-back, and central-midfield competition for Douglas Luii, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans? Real talk, theyâre pretty well covered, and I think they can do something in Big Ears next season.
Also going on:
Earlier this season:
Villa, of course, lost 4-2 at home to Olympiakos in midweek. It might take them a while to run out of their legs what was a tense and demanding match, and also on their collective mind will be Thursdayâs return. Theyâll hope to have MartÃnez, at least, back for that, especially given the prospect of penalties.
MartÃnez is a massive miss for Villa. Whatever you think about his performative attitude, he makes crucial saves and few mistakes; Arsenal let him go, but arguably heâs better than both Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya. Brighton will want to test Olsen early and keep him under pressure thereafter, if they possibly can.
As for Villa, Emi MartÃnez remains injured, Robin Olsen replacing him, while in front, Pau Torres and Diego Carlos replace Matty Cash and Clement Lenglet.
Three changes for Brighton. At the back, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman are replaced by Odeluga Offiah and Valentin Baroco, while up front itâs Daniel Welbeck ahead of Mark OâMahony.
Let’s have some teams…
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Webster, Dunk, Igor, Veltman; Gilmour, Gross; Adingra, Pedro, Buonanotte; Welbeck. Subs: Steele, Enciso, Moder, Barco, Baleba, Fati, Offiah, Peupion, OâMahony.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): Olsen; Konsa, Torres, Carlos, Digne; Bailey, Luiz, Rogers, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins. Subs: Gauci, Cash, Moreno, Chambers, Lenglet, Duran, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam, Kellyman.
Preamble
Itâs hard not to look at this match and ponder the managers. Little over a year ago, Roberto De Zerbi was the coming man, arriving to an already decent side and immediately turning it into more, the goals that seemed so hard to find under Graham Potter suddenly arriving more freely, along with some lovely football.
That was then; now, though, not so much. Perhaps Brighton finally fleeced richer rivals to such extent they could no longer simply rebuild and perhaps they didnât have the squad toi cope with Europe, but also, perhaps opponents have caught on to their press-baiting style, which can be just as tedious to watch as it can be a buzz. So they find themselves 13th in the table â last term they finished sixth â and suddenly De Zerbi is as close to bald fraud as to epochal genius.
Unai Emery, on the other hand, is now utterly ensconced among the elite managers. His travails at PSG and particularly Arsenal, though reasonably attributable to messy circumstances beyond his control, might also be used as evidence he is unsuited to the richest clubs. But at taking mid-ranking clubs to glory seemingly beyond them, he is the best around, and Villa look like another perfect fit.
As such, they need just six points from their final three games to be certain of competing in next seasonâs Champions League, but with Palace away and Liverpool home to come, those will not be easily achieved. Theyâll want to put a dent in things here and now.
Kick-off: 2pm BST