At A Glance
Aston Villa travel to Brighton & Hove Albion aiming to strengthen their charge for a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League.
Villa, facing their penultimate away match of the league season, currently hold a seven-point advantage over fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who still have a game in hand.
Unai Emery’s side will be looking to bounce back from their 4-2 midweek defeat to Olympiacos in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final.
The Villans, who have suffered just one defeat in their last seven away matches in the top flight, recorded an emphatic 6-1 triumph when the two sides met in September, Ollie Watkins netting a hat-trick.
The Seagulls are winless in their last six matches in the Premier League and have won one of their previous nine.
Brighton have suffered defeat in each of their past five meetings with Villa and have won one of their nine Premier League encounters, with their last home triumph coming in 1980.
Roberto De Zerbi's side are currently 12th in the table and boast Joao Pedro as their leading scorer in the top flight with eight goals to his name.
Standout Stats
Brighton have lost the past five Premier League meetings by an aggregate score of 14-3.
Villa could win six consecutive league games against a single opponent for the first time since doing so against Birmingham City between 2005-10.
Albion's most recent top-flight home victory against Villa was 1-0 in December 1980.
Villa are unbeaten in their past four Premier League games (W2, D2). Unai Emery's side have led by two goals in each of those matches.
They need just three more points to reach 70 this season, which would be their highest tally in the top flight since 1989/90.
The Villans have scored 73 league goals, their most in a top-flight season and one more than in the title-winning campaign in 1980/81.
Morgan Rogers has scored three goals and provided an assist in his last five league matches.
Ollie Watkins has six goals in four Premier League appearances against Brighton, more than he has scored against any other opposition in the division.
Watkins has six goals and two assists across his last five away league outings.
The England striker is one short of becoming the first Villa player to score 20 top-flight goals in a season since Peter Withe in 1980/81.
Brighton's only victory in their last nine Premier League games was 1-0 against Nottingham Forest in March (D3, L5).
Roberto De Zerbi's side have failed to score in eight league matches in 2024, more than any other team.
Joao Pedro is without a goal in his last five appearances in all competitions.
The Last Meeting
Ollie Watkins netted as hat-trick as rampant Villa registered a sensational 6-1 victory over Brighton.
The Villa striker was unplayable against the Seagulls and picked the perfect way to bring up 50 goals in claret in blue, firing the hosts into a 2-0 lead inside 21 minutes before completing his hat-trick just after the hour mark in front of the Holte End.
Superb Villa were three goals to the good after just 26 minutes as Pervis Estupinan’s own goal from Moussa Diaby’s strike capped a stunning opening quarter.
Brighton substitute Ansu Fati handed the visitors brief hope after the break before Watkins completed his treble to restore Villa’s three-goal advantage.
He then turned provider as he claimed an assist, setting up Jacob Ramsey to curl home a sweet fifth off the inside of the far post late on.
Watkins was denied a fourth deep into injury time as Jason Steele's parried save broke for Douglas Luiz to make it 6-1.
Team News
Villa will assess Emi Martínez, Youri Tielemans and Álex Moreno ahead of the trip to the Amex Stadium.
However, Tyrone Mings, Emi Buendía, Jacob Ramsey and Boubacar Kamara remain unavailable.
The Boss
“It’s always very difficult. We played against them in different matches last year and this year as well, and on Sunday it’s going to be very difficult. We have to compete very well and adapt to them a lot. We have to try to impose our positioning and game plan. They are playing at home and they’re going to try to push with their supporters and be focused in 90 minutes. They will try to beat us and we have to be ready, focused 100% if we want to get something there.”
Unai Emery
