Albion round off their Premier League campaign this Sunday as they head to Aston Villa, kick-off 4.30pm.
Our 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Wednesday confirmed a sixth-place finish and a Europa League spot, while Villa need to at least match Tottenham’s result against Leeds to ensure they finish in the Europa Conference League in seventh position.
Albion are now 11 points better off than in any other top-flight campaign in the club’s history, with their away form a big contributor towards that. Our 28 points on the road so far is the fourth best record in the Premier League this season.
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Roberto De Zerbi’s team have a job on their hands to add another three points to that tally though, with Villa not only wanting to secure European football, but also aiming to do the double over us which only two other teams achieved this year.
Team news
Albion are hopeful of having Adam Webster and Joel Veltman available to face Villa.
Our last meeting
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Alexis Mac Allister scored the sixth-fastest goal in the Premier League this season when he pinched possession on the edge of the box and fired home after 49 seconds. Villa responded when Danny Ings fired in from the penalty spot before slotting home early in the second half.
Match stats
Aston Villa have lost just one of their seven Premier League matches against Brighton (W4 D2), going down 2-1 at home in November 2020.
Brighton have lost their last three Premier League games against Aston Villa, having lost just one of their previous seven against them in league competition. They've never lost four in a row against the Villans before.
Aston Villa have won their final game in just one of their last eight Premier League campaigns (D2 L5), beating Chelsea 2-1 in 2020-21. Indeed, no team has lost their final game of the season more often than Aston Villa in the competition (14, level with Everton).
Brighton have lost their final league game in three of their five Premier League campaigns, winning the other two. Before their promotion to the division, they'd only lost their last league game in three of the previous 19 seasons (W7 D9).
| Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5
|
LIV
|
38 | +28 | 67 |
|
6
|
Albion
|
38 | +19 | 62 |
|
7
|
AVL
|
38 | +5 | 61 |
Victory for Aston Villa will see them qualify for at least the Europa Conference League play-off stage next season, their first appearance in European competition since the 2010-11 Europa League qualifying rounds.
Aston Villa have won their last six Premier League home games, scoring 12 goals and conceding just once. They last won seven in a row in the competition at Villa Park between December 1992 and February 1993.
Brighton have only failed to score in one of their 18 Premier League away games this season, going down 2-0 against Brentford in October. They've found the net in each of their last 13, their longest scoring streak on the road in league competition since a run of 16 between August 2009 and February 2010 in League One.
Jacob Ramsey turns 22 on the day of this game; the last Aston Villa player to score a Premier League goal on their birthday was Julian Joachim in September 1997, while no player in the division overall has scored on their birthday in the final match of the season before.
Ollie Watkins has scored 14 Premier League goals this season, with Christian Benteke the last Aston Villa player to net more in a single campaign (19 in 2012-13).
Brighton's Danny Welbeck has been involved in five goals in his last four Premier League appearances on matchday 38 (2 goals, 3 assists), scoring in each of his last two such games with Watford (v Arsenal 2019-20) and Brighton (last season v West Ham).
Match officials
Referee: David Coote. Assistants: Simon Bennett, Timothy Wood. Fourth official: Andy Davies. VAR: Graham Scott. Assistant VAR: Lee Betts.