Brighton and Hove Albion v Aston Villa; Villa’s season opener!

Finally, in what has felt like the blink of an eye, our beloved Aston Villa are set to begin their 26/27 Premier League campaign on the south coast of England, as Unai Emery’s Claret and Blue Europa League Winners take on Brighton & Hove Albion in the season opener.

Typically, in true Aston Villa fashion, we begin with a Sunday 1400 kick-off, which the fanbase have more or less acclimatised to – not that they’ve had much choice. On the bright side, it’s given us a chance to see how the previous matches unfold and a decent look at our 19 fellow competitors. Notable results include Brentford’s hammering of Spurs, and Hull City’s remarkable start to Premier League life with a 2-0 win against the Red Devils.

Enough about our opponents, there’s an unrecognisable Aston Villa to talk about. It’s been an eventful window leading up to the season, and it’s actually nowhere near done, which is scary but also exciting. News pretty much confirmed yesterday that Leon Goretzka to Villa is imminent, which is a smart move for an experienced player among the influx of youth that we’ve added to the team this summer, whilst selling key players to fellow Premier League rivals.

I’ve left this one so late to the point where I’ve actually got the lineup prior to writing, which is a big help to be fair. Unai’s first selection of the season sees Bizot in between the sticks with an expected back four of Cash, Lindelof, Torres and Maatsen. As predicted, Kamara and Barkley will feature in the midfield, but it was a welcome surprise to see Joao Gomes be named amongst the starters. That is merely a compensation, however, as no recognised striker starts for Villa today, with attacking players including McGinn, Hemmings and Buendia, who I was also correct in predicting them three would feature in the starting lineup.

The bench is as follows – Suzuki, Mings, Ruggeri, Garnacho, Bogarde, Rowe, Alysson, Burrowes and Lynch. A fair mix of attack and defence, but limited options in the midfield. I’ve no doubt that we will see a twenty minute cameo of Ruggeri, similarly to how Ian Maatsen came on for 20 minutes on his debut if I remember correctly.

Do I have to? Fine. I’ll address the elephant in the room. Watkins and Martinez both left out the squad. I do not want to speak much about them, as they have nothing to do with the game I am writing about, but I believe if Ollie Watkins really was desperate to play, and same goes for Martinez, then they’d either show up and watch the game or it will come out later, my prediction is that it will not for any of them, as Watkins wants to make £500K a week in Saudi Arabia, and Martinez wants out to a sizeable club elsewhere, which Villa will likely facilitate now we’ve got Suzuki and Bizot.

The hosts have a fairly unrecognisable lineup themselves. I’ll name it – Verbruggen, Wieffer, Vuskovic, Boscagli, Dunk, Gross, Ayari, Gomez, Hinshelwood, De Cuyper, Rutter. I’ve probably only heard of about half of that lineup, some very briefly. I believe Brighton have a few issues themselves.

In terms of the game itself, I believe we will create a fair few chances, and it will come down to whether we find the net or not. We’ve shown that we’re capable at the Amex and I do think this could go better than expected. Hopefully, Lindelof and Torres will prove solid as a partnership and Maatsen will defend like he did in the Super Cup Final, and Cash will hopefully do similar. The beginning of the season doesn’t define a club’s season as we fortunately found out last season, but it’ll be nice to get off to a good start.

I’m going to stick my neck out here and I fancy a wonderful day on the south coast for all attending, which doesn’t include me – I’ve been 3 times in the last 2 years so cannot financially justify going again, especially when I didn’t even do Salzburg due to finances. Not going to say whether I had a ticket originally or not as I have my name public on here and don’t fancy an away match ban. 😉

0-2 Villa today. Let’s do this. UTV