In-form Aston Villa are the visitors to the Gtech Community Stadium this Saturday, with both sides looking for three points to cement their place in the Premier League’s top half.
Victory over Newcastle United last time out was Aston Villa’s fifth in row, a run which leaves them just six points off the Champions League places with seven to play.
Thomas Frank’s Bees are still well inside the top 10, despite defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend making it five games without a win.
The opposition
Villa eyeing Europe after seven wins from eight
Aston Villa spent more than £100 million in the summer 2021 transfer window in an attempt to secure a first top-half finish since 2010/11, but things started to go awry before the November international break, leading to Dean Smith’s sacking after five straight defeats.
The Midlands club paid Rangers in excess of £3m compensation to install Steven Gerrard as his successor but, while results improved on the whole and the Liverpool legend made some shrewd acquisitions, they finished in a relatively disappointing 14th place.
Gerrard’s first pre-season at Villa Park went smoothly and passed without incident, with the only downside being the £20m sale of starlet Carney Chukwuemeka to Chelsea.
There was a wake-up call in their first competitive fixture of the new campaign, though, as newly promoted Bournemouth battled to a 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium. Gerrard blamed the defeat on “a lack of quality”.
Things did not get any better under the former England international. The day after a 3-0 defeat at Fulham on 20 October - Villa's sixth defeat in just 11 league games - he was sacked after a few weeks shy of one year in charge. His assistant Aaron Danks was appointed as caretaker and was the mastermind behind the 4-0 win over Brentford - a victory 69 years in the making.
Three days after Danks was installed, ex-Arsenal boss Unai Emery was appointed as Gerrard's successor, but owing to work permit delays, it was to be another week until the Spaniard was able to take charge in his own right. When he did, he oversaw wins over Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, which sent the club into the World Cup break on a real high.
Fortunes were mixed when domestic football returned. Emery's men stayed in mid-table with three wins, one draw and four defeats from their first eight. But after a third-straight loss - 4-2 at Arsenal on 18 February - he recognised there were issues that needed to be worked on urgently.
"Very disappointed. Very frustrated. And embarrassing to lose as much as 4-2 at home in front of our supporters," he said. "The performance collectively overall was poor. [Conceding] eight goals at home in two matches is not normal. And the performance can't continue like that away or home."
The frank analysis seems to have worked wonders. Since that day, Villa have won seven of the last eight, scored 16, conceded only two and climbed from the confines of mid-table to sixth. They are very much into contention for European football for the first time since 2010/11.
The gameplan
With The Athletic's Gregg Evans
Gregg Evans, sports reporter for The Athletic, discusses Villa’s five-game winning streak in the Premier League, Unai Emery’s impact since his appointment in October, and the players that Brentford must nullify on Saturday afternoon in Hot off the Press.
"Villa have been playing the same formation for the last three or four months now. It is a 4-2-2-2 or a 4-4-2, whichever way you want to look at it.
"Emi Martinez will be in goal, Ashley Young at right-back, Mings and Konsa the centre-backs, Moreno left-back. The two sitting midfielders will be John McGinn and Douglas Luiz and the two slightly in front of those two will be Emi Buendia and Jacob Ramsey. Then it will be Traore to come in for the injured Leon Bailey, alongside Watkins in the two forward positions.
"It has been working quite well. Villa play out from the back and are very controlled in possession; they take their time and try to build through the goalkeeper and the two centre-backs. They can mix it up, too, and occasionally Martinez will kick it long and look for that ball down the channel, but it is very rare.
"They typically have two or three patterns of play that they work on, and they have scored a lot of goals from that."
Team news
Ajer closing in on return
Thomas Frank has no new injury concerns ahead of Villa's visit to the Gtech Community Stadium.
Pontus Jansson (hamstring) and Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) are both likely to miss the rest of the season.
In more positive news, Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) is closing in on a return to full training, while Frank Onyeka and Vitaly Janelt played an hour for Brentford B in their 2-2 draw with Huddersfield Town B on Tuesday afternoon.
Aston Villa won't be able to welcome back Boubacar Kamara (ankle), Philippe Coutinho (hamstring) and Matty Cash (calf) from injury just yet.
That trio join Jed Steer (achilles) and Leon Bailey (hamstring) on Villa's absentee list.
Last time at the Gtech
Brentford 2 Aston Villa 1 (2 January 2022)
Brentford came from a goal down to start 2022 with a memorable win over Aston Villa.
The Bees trailed after a difficult opening to the contest but battled back. Yoane Wissa struck a superb equaliser before Mads Roerslev scored the winner late on.
In the dugout
Unai Emery
Unai Emery began his coaching career in 2004, taking charge of Lorca Deportiva - the club where he finished his playing career - before progressing to Almeria, Valencia and Spartak Moscow.
The Spaniard became Sevilla boss in 2013 and won three consecutive Europa League titles while in charge, which saw them become the most successful club in the history of the UEFA Cup/Europa League.
A move to Paris Saint-Germain followed. Emery guided PSG to a Ligue 1 title, two Coupe de France titles, two Coupe de la Ligues, and two Trophee des Champions. This included a domestic quadruple in his second season in the French capital.
He succeeded Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in May 2018 but his spell at the Emirates was short-lived as he departed the club in November 2019 following a series of poor results.
After a two-year spell back in Spain with Villareal - where he collected another Europa League winner’s medal - Emery returned to the Premier League as Aston Villa head coach and has the Villans on track for a top-half finish this campaign.
Match officials
Bees look to keep up perfect record under Salisbury
Referee: Michael Salisbury
Assistants: Neil Davies and Scott Ledger
Fourth official: John Busby
VAR: Craig Pawson
Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick
It’s played six, won six under Michael Salisbury.
Influenced to take up the whistle by his father, Graham, who ended his own 21-year career as an EFL referee at the end of the 2020/21 season, Salisbury was one of four officials added to the select group one of top-flight referees ahead of last season.
Salisbury's first two Brentford appointments, a 3-0 success at Luton Town and a 1-0 home win over Rotherham United, both came in the Bees' 2020/21 promotion-winning season.
Last season saw another pair of wins. The first came over Stoke City in the Carabao Cup with Southampton then beaten in the Premier League in May.
This campaign’s games both ended with 2-0 wins, over Brighton and Hove Albion in October and at against Southampton at St Mary’s last month.
Aston Villa 22/23
350 fouls - 7th in Premier League
60 yellow cards - 10th in Premier League
1 red card - 8th in Premier League