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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 27
Brighton & Hove Albion v Aston Villa
American Express Community Stadium
Brighton and Hove, England
Saturday, 26 February 2022
Kick-off is at 17h00
Brighton will be targeting a return to winning ways in the
Premier League when they welcome improving Aston Villa to the Amex on Saturday, February 26.
Graham Potter's side slipped to a disappointing 3-0 loss at home to strugglers Burnley on Saturday, February 19, which was the first time they had suffered back-to-back defeats in the league this season.
The Seagulls remain ninth in the table, although Southampton have closed to within a point of them in 10th spot after the same number of games (25).
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Potter expects a response from his players for the visit of Villa after acknowledging their normally consistent performance levels dropped against the Clarets.
"I would say from a performance perspective it's one of the worst that we've had since I've been here but it hasn't happened very often," he was quoted as saying on the club's official website.
"Because of the level of our performances in the last couple of years we're a bit shocked about how it wasn't so good [on Saturday]. But it can happen, and it tells you a bit about the consistency we've had over the last couple of years and also the quality of the Premier League.
"But I won't throw everything away because of one bad result. The players are human beings, they were honest afterwards. They weren't quite good enough and it's on us to try and improve."
The Villains are also aiming to bounce back from two successive defeats after going down 1-0 to Watford at the weekend.
The 1-0 reverse at Newcastle on February 13 halted a three-game unbeaten run for Steven Gerrard's men, who have impressed since the arrival of Philippe Coutinho.
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Villa find themselves 12th in the standings on 27 points, five outside the top-10, and Gerrard admits they need to improve in the final third after hitting the target just once from 20 attempts at goal against the Hornets.
"We've played three teams below us in the last three games and we've taken one point, that's not good enough," he said.
"That's on me. I realise that things need to change, we need to improve and we need to do it fast. We have to face the music and move on."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Brighton - 1
Aston Villa - 2
Draws - 2
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