Villa team news: Wieffer and Ferguson set to miss out

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Albion's final game of 2024 is on Monday night

Bruce Talbot

2024-12-29T22:30+00:00

Mats Wieffer scored Albion's goal against West Ham in our last away game but came off with an injury. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion end 2024 looking to end a run of six Premier League games without a win when we head to Villa Park on Monday (7.45pm).

Team news

At his pre-match press conference, Fabian Hurzeler confirmed that Mats Wieffer is unlikely to have recovered in time from injury to be involved. Danny Welbeck and Evan Ferguson are also ruled out.

Fabian’s thoughts

On Villa… “They had a tough period but now they are getting more and more back in shape. They have had some great wins in the Champions League and have a clear style of play. [Coach] Unai Emery has had a big impact on their philosophy, and they have great individuals. Their front three are all world-class players. They are all good in one-v-one duels and good at protecting the ball and creating chances. It won’t be easy but if we defend like we did against Brentford with intensity and sharpness we have a chance. I heard a lot about the atmosphere there so it will be a great opportunity to show our identity there.”

On defensive stability… “Both Joel Veltman and Lewis Dunk have had a big impact since coming back. They know how to defend, to control the game and against West Ham and Brentford I don’t remember the opponent having any big chances.”

On the first half of the season… “We had a lot of changes in the summer and have a really young squad who need time to adapt to the Premier League. Your progress won’t always be linear and you have to work hard for that. We just try to be more consistent and if we do I’m quite positive we will play a good second half of the season.”

Solly March celebrates his goal when we last won at Villa Park in November 2020.

Facts and stats

Aston Villa lost their last Premier League meeting with Albion 1-0 in May, having won five in a row against the Seagulls before this. Albion have won just one of their 14 away league games against Aston Villa (D3 L10), losing the last three in a row including a 6-1 loss last season.

Aston Villa are looking to win their final league game in consecutive calendar years for the first time since 2007/2008, following a 3-2 win against Burnley in their last game of 2023.

Albion have lost their final game of the calendar year in just two of their seven seasons in the Premier League (W3 D2), with both defeats coming in home games against Arsenal (2020 and 2022).

Aston Villa have lost just one of their last 14 Premier League home games (W7 D6) and are unbeaten in their last eight at Villa Park since a 2-0 loss to Arsenal in August (W5 D3).

Coming into this round of matches, no team has scored the first goal in more different Premier League away games than Brighton this season (7). However, the Seagulls have only gone on to win three of these games (D2 L2).

Aston Villa have kept just two clean sheets in their last 23 Premier League games, though both of these have come in home matches (0-0 v Man Utd in October, 1-0 v Southampton earlier this month).

Aston Villa’s 3-0 loss at Newcastle last time out was their eighth Premier League defeat by 3+ goals under Unai Emery – only Paul Lambert (16) and Dean Smith (9) have lost more games by such a margin in charge of Villa in the competition.

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has scored more Premier League goals against Albion than he has against any other opponent (6), netting a hat-trick in this exact fixture in a 6-1 win last season.

Brighton’s 14 Premier League away goals this season have been scored by ten different players, with Danny Welbeck, Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma and Carlos Baleba the only Seagulls to score more than once on the road (2 each).

Match officials