Brighton vs Aston Villa preview, team news, stats, prediction, kick-off time, live on Sky Sports

Team news and stats ahead of Brighton vs Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Brighton will check on the fitness of centre-back Adam Webster (ankle) and Davy Propper (groin) for the visit of Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.

The duo missed the midweek FA Cup defeat to Leicester but have a chance of being part of the squad at the Amex Stadium.

Boss Graham Potter remains without Tariq Lamptey (hamstring), Solly March (knee), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (hamstring) and Florin Andone (knee) for the evening clash.

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Aston Villa have no new fitness concerns following the home win against Arsenal.

Defender Kortney Hause (foot) is unlikely to return before the end of the month while striker Wesley (knee) is continuing his recovery and is not close to a return following 13 months out.

January signing Morgan Sanson awaits his full debut for the club and Douglas Luiz will be hoping for a recall after being an unused substitute against the Gunners.

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How to follow

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Brighton vs Aston Villa is live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 7.45pm; Kick-off 8pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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Jones Knows prediction

This should be an entertaining watch this one. Both teams like to get the ball down and have managers that encourage players to express themselves. Brighton have found consistency in their defensive play for Graham Potter and although they still remain a team to be wary of in terms of converting chances into goals, opposition teams are finding it hard to find a way through.

With Lewis Dunk marshalling his troops, Brighton have shipped just one goal in their last five league matches, a remarkable achievement considering they have faced Leeds, Liverpool and Tottenham in that run. They have also faced just 222 shots in the Premier League this season - only Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea have faced fewer.

With the match markets offering little way of betting opportunities with almost identical prices for both teams, finding an angle in has proved difficult. The draw has to be the play for an outright tip, advised with no confidence.

So, when stuck for inspiration, stick to a winning formula. Last weekend Ollie Watkins ran Arsenal ragged and landed our suggestion of him having a header on target at 9/2 with Sky Bet. Only Patrick Bamford (25), Aleksandar Mitrovic (19), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (18) and Tomas Soucek (17) have had more headers on goal than the in-form Watkins this season with six of those hitting the target.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-1

BETTING ANGLE: Ollie Watkins to have a header on target (9/2 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

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• Brighton and Hove Albion are looking to complete a league double over Aston Villa for the first time in what is their 11th season facing the Villans.
• Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last four away league matches against Brighton (W1 D3), since losing 1-0 in December 1980 to a Michael Robinson goal.
• Brighton's last three home Premier League wins have all been in three different years, winning in December 2019, June 2020 and January 2021. The Seagulls haven't won consecutive home games since November 2019.
• Brighton are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games (W3 D2), with only Manchester City on a longer current run without defeat in the competition (14).
• Only Tottenham (32%) have conceded a lower proportion of their Premier League goals in the first half than Aston Villa this season (33% - 8/24), while no side has conceded fewer goals in the opening 30 minutes of Premier League games this term than the Villans (3).
• Aston Villa have won 11 Premier League games this season, keeping a clean sheet in 10 of those victories. The only victory in which they conceded was their 7-2 triumph against Liverpool in October, with the Villans losing eight and drawing one of their nine games in which they've conceded since that win.
• Aston Villa's 11 Premier League wins this season is their most in a single top-flight campaign since 2010-11 (12), while their six away wins is their most in the Premier League since 2009-10 (9).
• Aston Villa's Jack Grealish has been directly involved in five goals in his last five appearances against Brighton in all competitions (4 goals, 1 assist), scoring in his last two at the Amex.
• Of all keepers to have played at least 10 Premier League games this season, only Ederson (one every 145 minutes) and Édouard Mendy (114 minutes) have a better minutes per goal conceded rate than Brighton's Robert Sánchez (one every 98 minutes).
• Ollie Watkins has scored 10 Premier League goals for Aston Villa this season, the most by an English player in a top-flight campaign for the Villans since Gabriel Agbonlahor in 2009-10 (13).

Pitch to Post Preview - Guardiola v Mourinho, Arsenal's dip and development, and how far away are Man Utd?

In this week's Pitch to Post Preview Podcast Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports News reporter Paul Gilmour and Sky Sports feature writer Nick Wright to look ahead to Saturday's clash between Pep Guardiola's Man City and Jose Mourinho's Tottenham, with the league leaders' imperious form and Gareth Bale's continued absence from the Spurs XI on the agenda.

We also hear from Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith on Arsenal's inconsistency, how Mikel Arteta is building for a better campaign next season, and whether Leeds striker Patrick Bamford can make it into England's squad for the Euros.

Plus, Nick Wright delivers his verdict on why Manchester United should be ready for a title tilt, Sam Allardyce's struggles to turn things around at West Brom, and shares his Pitch for what will happen in the Premier League this weekend.

Listen to the Sky Sports Pitch to Post Podcast on: Spotify | Apple | Castbox

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