Aston Villa face Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday evening, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the clash.
Villa have struggled to cope with our hectic schedule this season, as we’ve often fallen short in league games that follow midweek European outings.
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We’ll be looking to end that trend this weekend as we try to close the gap on our rivals for a top-five finish, which could be enough to secure a return to the Champions League next season.
Given the quality that Brentford possess though, coupled with the fact that we’ve often struggled against them in recent meetings, this promises to be a difficult challenge.
Emery confirmed that Ross Barkley would play no part in his pre-match press conference, while Amadou Onana is closing in on a return, but it wasn’t expected that he would feature in this one.
Nevertheless, we had positive developments earlier in the week with Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara getting minutes against Club Brugge, while Pau Torres returned to the matchday squad.
As per the club’s post below, Villa have made two changes from midweek with Robin Olsen and Jacob Ramsey coming in to replace Emiliano Martinez and Marcus Rashford.
Both Martinez and Marco Asensio miss out due to injury, and that is a significant blow for Emery given their influence and importance in the side as we continue to struggle with injury setbacks.
Nevertheless, it remains a very strong Villa XI with excellent options on the bench to come on and impact the game if needed, and so it’s hoped that we can secure what would be a crucial win in our pursuit of European qualification.
Our starting XI to face Brentford 👊 #BREAVL pic.twitter.com/xWOJFfBgpx
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 8, 2025
