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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 32
Brentford v Aston Villa
Gtech Community Stadium
London, England
Saturday, 22 April 2023
Kick-off is at 16h00
Aston Villa will continue their late push for
European football when they travel to the capital to face Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, April 22.
The Villans have enjoyed a remarkable turnaround under Unai Emery, who has lost just four of his 16 games since replacing Steven Gerrard at the helm on November 1.
A 3-0 victory over high-flying Newcastle at Villa Park last Saturday made it five wins on the spin for Villa and extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.
The West Midlands giants sit just three points outside the European places in sixth position and are only a further three adrift of the top four, with Tottenham (5th) and the Magpies (4th) in danger of being hauled in.
Brighton kept pace with Emery's side courtesy of a 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge which left them a point behind Villa in seventh spot.
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The Bees continued their slide down the table with a 2-0 defeat to Wolves at Molineux last Saturday - their third consecutive loss and a fifth game without victory.
Thomas Frank's team are just about hanging onto ninth place as Fulham (10th) are breathing down their necks only one point behind with two games in hand.
Ivan Toney has been a model of consistency for the west Londoners this term, never going more than three matches without scoring. The England striker's 18 goals puts him third in the scoring charts behind Erling Haaland (32) and Harry Kane (23) and he's due one against Villa if the current pattern continues, having scored in every other game for the past two months.
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Ollie Watkins has hit a purple patch in the new year, netting 13 goals in his last 12 appearances. The former Brentford striker scored in the reverse fixture and could come back to haunt his previous employers once more this weekend.
In team news, the hosts remain without Pontus Jansson (thigh), Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) and Kristoffer Ajer (calf), while Matty Cash, Jed Steer (both calf), Boubacar Kamara (ankle), Philippe Coutinho and Leon Bailey (both thigh) will miss the trip to London.
Frank is urging his players to keep applying themselves as the Bees look to bounce back against the Villans, who ran out comfortable 4-0 victors in their last meeting at Villa Park on October 23.
"It's all about consistency and to keep doing what we've been working towards for many years here at Brentford," the Dane said.
"Especially things like training well, performing well, analysing, reflecting, and moving on again. We do that if we win, we lose, we draw - it's all about that."
Emery is harbouring ambitions of playing in Europe next season after guiding Villa away from danger and into the top half of the table.
"We are adding different objectives. At the beginning it was about escaping the bottom, which was very difficult but we did it," the Spaniard said.
"Now we are trying to be consistent in the top 10, but I think after this victory we can add another realistic objective to try and get a top-six position and to play in Europe next year.
"It's going to be very, very difficult. We have to be ambitious and, of course, realistic but we are facing the next challenge and trying to do it."
Head-to-Head (Previous Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 3
Brentford - 1
Aston Villa - 1
Draws - 1
Matchday 32 fixtures:
Friday, April 21
21h00: Arsenal v Southampton
Saturday, April 22
13h30: Fulham v Leeds United
16h00: Brentford v Aston Villa
16h00: Crystal Palace v Everton
16h00: Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
16h00: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest
Sunday, April 23
15h00: Bournemouth v West Ham United
15h00: Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
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