Brentford vs Aston Villa Prediction, Lineups and Odds: Wissa tipped to fire

Having gone to Brugge and won 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, Aston Villa’s priorities turn to qualifying for that same competition by getting back in contention for a top four spot in the Premier League.

The Villans sit five points off Man City in fourth having played a game more and so desperately need three points at Brentford on Saturday evening to keep pace.

Thomas Frank’s men are comfortable in 11th in the table but will harbour their own ambitions of a top half finish having dropped to 16th last season.

Brentford games at the Gtech Community Stadium this season have been remarkable for their lack of combativeness, in particular from the home side who have averaged just 6.7 fouls per game which is comfortably the lowest in the division.

They’ve made less than 10 fouls in 11 of 14 on home soil and in their last four games as hosts combined have made just 17 infringements. When coupled with their average of 1.86 offsides per game, this means that their opponents are getting just 8.57 free kicks per game with only Wolves having 14 or more.

Aston Villa are at the opposite end of this scale, averaging 17.54 free kicks per away game and so you might initially be drawn to back overs at this line.

They’ve only gone under 14 free kicks in trips to Arsenal, Ipswich and Fulham, largely because they draw plenty of fouls and also catch their opponents offside 3.08 times per game.

However, Brentford’s approach of sitting off against the best sides in the division has been consistent and free kick counts of four for Spurs, six for Arsenal and eight for Man City emphasise how Thomas Frank has instructed his team to not engage and he’ll likely do the same here.

One of the biggest challenges of going deep in the Champions League is the quick turnaround to league fixtures and this is something that Aston Villa have struggled with this season. In eight matches after midweek European action, Villa have won just once and kept just one clean sheet.

There’s been some tough games in there against Liverpool and Chelsea, however, defeats against Wolves and Forest and failing to beat West Ham and Man Utd demonstrate that Unai Emery is yet to find the right formula for coping with this fixture pile-up.

Therefore, we can expect a fresh Brentford side to cause them some problems and it makes sense to side with Yoane Wissa to get on the scoresheet, something he’s done on 13 occasions this season. The Congolese international has thrived under the spotlight and taken on the void left by Ivan Toney with confidence.

He’s been particularly dangerous at home where he’s scored nine goals in 12 starts and with Villa only having kept one league clean sheet in 2025 and having to recover quickly from a trip to Belgium, he looks a great price to score once again.

Brentford vs Aston Villa Lineups

The starting lineups for Brentford vs Aston Villa will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.