Big game at Brentford and match facts from the BBC

Because of our form and league position, each match is more important than the one before and today, Brentford away is bigger than Arsenal and Manchester City last week.

That Manchester City dropped points yesterday also means that today is an opportunity. Add to this that Liverpool play Manchester United and Arsenal face Brighton, if everything went our way today, we could be top of the league this evening.

I'm not saying I expect this to happen, but it's a lot of pressure going into this game. And when you consider we haven't won at Brentford in the League since 1947. And yes, there is a very good reason for that.

But Brentford is a tricky place to go and while this season hasn't gone maybe the way many would have thought for them, we represent a scalp for them today and they very luck look like a potential banana skin. And that is why today is such an important match.

And even though Brentford are missing players through injury, we're missing players too. Digne and Luiz are out through suspension and both have been very impressive this season. We should be confident today, but I'm nervous all the same but we'll find out soon enough, it's kick off in six hours.

Match facts from the BBC

Head-to-head

• Brentford have lost just one of their past 10 league games against Aston Villa, a 4-0 defeat at Villa Park in last season's Premier League (W4, D5).
• Aston Villa are winless in five away games versus Brentford in all competitions since a 2-1 FA Cup fourth-round replay victory in February 1953. Their most recent away league win versus the Bees came in the top flight in February 1947.

Brentford

• The Bees have lost four of their past five league matches, as many as in their previous 18.
• Brentford's tally of 19 points from 16 games is one fewer than at the same stage in each of their previous two Premier League campaigns.
• Their 10 most recent Premier League wins have all come in London, with six at home and four away.
• Brentford's solitary point from their six league fixtures this season against teams currently in the top eight was a 2-2 home draw versus Spurs on the opening weekend.
• Bryan Mbeumo has played in 36 consecutive home league matches for Brentford since missing their 2-1 win versus Aston Villa in January last year.
• Neal Maupay has made eight Premier League appearances against Aston Villa without ever scoring. He has never faced an English top-flight opponent nine times without a goal.

Aston Villa

• Aston Villa's tallies of 24 Premier League wins and 78 points in 2023 are both second only to Manchester City, a 25th top-flight victory for Villa would set an outright club record for a calendar year.
• Only in 1980-81, when they last won the title, have Villa ever had more than their current tally of 35 points after 16 top-flight games in a season.
• The Villans are the only club not to have dropped a Premier League point from a winning position this season, winning all 11 matches in which they have led.
• They are unbeaten in all six of their league fixtures in London under Unai Emery and are aiming for three successive top-flight wins in the capital for the first time since early 1990.
• Ollie Watkins has scored 20 Premier League goals in 2023, one shy of the club record for a calendar year set by Dwight Yorke in 1996.
• Leon Bailey has scored five goals in 14 league appearances during the current campaign, as many as he managed in his first two seasons for Villa combined.