Premier League: Villans Can Deal with a Bee Sting

Brentford vs Aston Villa

All eyes will be on the Gtech Community Stadium this weekend as Premier League: Brentford vs Aston Villa ushers in a new era for the Bees.

Long time manager Thomas Frank went to Tottenham Hotspur and set-piece coach Keith Andrews has stepped up for his first taste of a top job. The well travelled defensive midfielder kicked off with a 3-1 defeat away to Nottingham Forest, and he has watched some of the club’s best players leave during the transfer window.

His opposite number Unai Emery is an experienced operator with an impressive collection of trophies as a head coach, including three Europa League titles with Sevilla and a Ligue 1 championship with Paris Saint-Germain; and he has previous experience in the Premier League with Arsenal. Villa battled to a goalless draw at home to Newcastle United last weekend, despite going down to ten men when centre back Ezri Konsa was sent off. 

There were only four places between the two teams last term as Villa finished sixth to the Bees’ tenth, but I suspect the gap may widen this year and, the Brentford vs Aston Villa betting odds suggest that trend will start on Saturday.        

 

Talking Points

Ouattara flies on for the Bees

It has been a tough old summer transfer window for Brentford with the departure of keeper Mark Flekken, midfield general Christian Norgaard and star striker Bryan Mbeumo weakening the first 11, and a distinct possibility that Mbeumo’s strike partner Yoanne Wissa will be moving on fairly soon.

But there has been some better news for Brentford fans this week with the announcement that the club has signed forward Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth for a fee around £42m. It’s a new record transfer for the Bees, eclipsing the £30m they paid for Igor Thiago last summer and a decent capture as the Cherries were not overly keen to sell their man. Ouattara scored 11 goals and made nine assists in 88 appearances for Bournemouth over the past two campaigns and he will slot straight into the Bees starting line-up, assuming he is up to speed. 

Another summer signing Caomhin Kelleher, who signed from Liverpool to replace long term keeper Flekken, is likely to be a busy boy on Saturday, as is centre back Nathan Collins who has been installed by Andrews as captain.        

 

Villans’ striker dilemma

Aston Villa’s opener against Newcastle United provided a good opportunity to measure themselves up against a top four rival and they did so reasonably well, weathering a Magpies storm in the first half and then coming out brightly in the second before they went down to ten men. They held out for a draw fairly comfortably in the end but nothing less than a win away to Brentford will be an acceptable follow-up.

Emery has his own transfer issues to deal with. Attacking midfielder Jacob Ramsey transferred to Newcastle in a 43m deal while Ivory Coast striker Evann Guessand has joined at a cost of £28m from Nice. The Villa boss wants to add to his attack and he has been linked with Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson after he fell down the pecking order following the arrival of Joao Pedro from Brighton and Hove Albion. So the striker merry-go-round is speeding up and if Jackson does rock up at Villa Park he could form a lethal partnership with Villa talisman Ollie Watkins…assuming the England man stays. Newcastle, who are at risk of losing Alexander Isak, have been linked with Watkins; but sources from the Midlands say the arrival of Jackson would be no threat to Watkins and he would be happy to stay.

In other news wide man Leon Bailey has reached an agreement to join AS Roma on a year long loan which gives the Serie A club an option to buy. The 28 year old has made 144 appearances in four campaigns at Villa Park but his opportunities would be limited this season in a team blessed with the creative talents of John McGinn, Youri Tielemens, Donyell Malen and Morgan Rogers.             

 

History

These two teams have met 22 times in history and the Midlanders have had the better of the head to head Brentford vs Aston Villa results, with ten wins to the Bees’ four and there have been eight draws. Villa have been unbeaten in six games against Brentford and they have won on their last two visits to the Gtech Community Stadium. 

Last season Villa did the double over the Bees with a 3-1 victory at home in December and a 1-0 win in West London in March as Watkins scored the 14^th minute winner.   

The Bees had a decent pre-season with two draws, against Borussia Monchengladbach and Gil Vicente, and a win over Championship side QPR; meanwhile the Villans drew away to Eintracht Frankfurt and then beat Roma 4-0 at home.  

 

Betting Tip

Forest certainly exploited the weakened Bees last week and, at SBOTOP odds of 3.33, they have an uphill task against the Villans, with the draw at 3.42.  For a correct score-line a 2-1 win for Villa at 8.45 is my alternative long shot bet as I expect Emery’s team to make it a hat-trick of wins in Brentford.

   

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