Brighton at the weekend, Championship feel to December and match facts from the BBC

Football is a game of 90 minutes and in football you can't just go out and run for 90 minutes like every match is the FA Cup final. Sure, you can try and yes, you have to want to win every game, but you can't play like it's the last 5 minutes and you're one down and throw everything at it. 

You have to have a plan.

It's a little like test cricket. It's demanding but it's a chess like version of the game. You can't go and play test cricket like it's one day. Do that and you'll ultimately struggle, because it's about more than that. That is off my chest, now to Wednesday.

But before that, Wolves and it was always going to be tough on Sunday with them having a new manager. But, for the reasons written above, we got through. Better players, better tactics and a bigger vision. They didn't come to Villa Park to not lose and that always makes it more difficult, but they did play a way that made it hard for us. 

But hard is something we are getting used to and that will be hard tomorrow night in Brighton. Not least because it's like we're back in the Championship playing as regularly as we are at the moment. But also because in December we have seven fixtures. And in those seven, we've got Arsenal twice, European football, Chelsea and Manchester United.

We get through December in a good place and I'll start believing. I really will. 

But we have to treat every game like an FA Cup final. Okay, that's a joke. We have to treat this series of games like the business end of the season. There will be a need to rest players and a need to approach certain games in certain ways. Take Brighton tomorrow, three points there and it will build confidence, but we have to have an eye on Saturday.

Arsenal at Villa Park is going to be a big game that nobody will think we can win but if we get something out of that match, all of a sudden we'll be brimming. These two matches set the standard for the rest of the month and if we get off to a good start, that behaviour will breed behaviour. 

Maybe even December could be the month that defines our season. We've got ourselves to this place, it's now about staying here. Come January, I think we'll see something similar to last January and that will be a boost for everyone. Imagine feeling like we've had a great first half to the season and then we have a January boost. 

Imagine. It's easy if you try. Sorry. 

Match facts from the BBC

• Brighton have won just one of their last nine Premier League games against Aston Villa (D2 L6), a 1-0 home win in May 2024.

• Aston Villa have won three of their last four away league games against Brighton (L1), as many as they had in their first 11 visits to the Seagulls (D5 L3).

• Brighton have won four of their five evening kick offs (7pm or later) in the Premier League so far in 2025, though the exception was a 3-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in April.

• Aston Villa have won four of their last six Premier League games played on a Wednesday (D1 L1), including a 3-0 win at Brighton in their last such match. They had won just two of their previous 15 Wednesday games in the competition before this run (D4 L9).

• Aston Villa have lost their last four away Premier League games in the month of December, while manager Unai Emery has won just four of his last 21 away league games in the festive month (D6 L11), encompassing spells at Sevilla, Paris SG, Arsenal, Villarreal and Villa.

• Brighton and Hove Albion are unbeaten in their last 10 home Premier League matches (W6 D4), winning the last three in a row. The Seagulls have never won four top-flight home games in a row, last doing so in the league in March/April 2017 in the Championship.

• Since the start of March, only Arsenal have won more away Premier League points than Aston Villa (20), who’ve won six of their 12 away games in that time (D2 L4). Their last two away wins have come after going 1-0 down, against Spurs in October and Leeds in November.

• Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored seven Premier League goals in nine appearances against Brighton and Hove Albion, also providing two assists in those games. However, six of those seven goals (plus both assists) have been at Villa Park.

• Danny Welbeck has scored in each of his last three home Premier League games for Brighton – he’s never scored in four in a row for any of the clubs he’s played for. The only Seagulls player to score in four Premier League appearances in a row at the Amex was Glenn Murray between October and December 2018.

• Morgan Rogers has been involved in eight goals in his last 13 away Premier League appearances for Aston Villa (4 goals, 4 assists), scoring his first ever top-flight brace in his last away game against Leeds.