Aston Villa’s first away game of the new Premier League season takes them to the Gtech Community Stadium to take on Brentford.
Villa have stumbled upon an unusual circumstance at the beginning of 2025/26, playing their first two games against opponents who each have one of the division’s leading strikers but aren’t playing him while he tries to force a move.
It’s not difficult to see how transfers have finally ruined football. Alexander Isak is a Newcastle United player. Yoane Wissa is a Brentford player. Villa should have had to deal with both before the August bank holiday.
Wissa is the tip of the iceberg as far as Brentford are concerned. This has been a summer of upheaval and it started with Thomas Frank, the manager who was appointed to replace Dean Smith when he joined Villa seven years ago.
Frank is now in charge at Tottenham Hotspur and has been replaced by a managerial rookie, Keith Andrews, who is highly respected in the game but has a real challenge on his hands.
Brentford are dealing with change from back to front. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken has been replaced by Caoimhin Kelleher. Christian Nørgaard and Bryan Mbeumo have gone. Jordan Henderson and Dango Ouattara have arrived.
Taken as a whole, this is not an upgrade. Brentford are among the bookies’ favourites to go down if one of the promoted clubs manages to break the sequence of teams coming up and going straight back down again and they certainly had that look about them when they were steamrollered by Nottingham Forest last weekend.
The Bees were beaten 3-1 and managed fewer shots on target even than Villa. Only one team, Crystal Palace, produced fewer passes into the penalty area in their opening fixture. Villa, Palace and Brentford were the only teams that managed fewer than 100 touches in the attacking third.
This is a meeting of two teams who need an improved performance and a better result. Neither will take the other for granted and both Andrews and Unai Emery are looking for a reaction.
Nørgaard’s departure to Arsenal left the Bees with an obvious problem. The Dane was an influential player in their midfield and a reliable senior pro. That’s why Arsenal wanted him, and it’s why Brentford moved for a direct replacement.
At 35 years old, England international Henderson is certainly capable of both of those things. The handling of his move from Liverpool to the Saudi Pro League was questionable and cast a shadow over his character but there’s no doubting his leadership abilities and he will bring that to Brentford this season.
It looks like they’re going to need it, and they’ll be hoping for a more positive outcome than his former club, Ajax, experienced at the end of last season.
Villa won both games against Brentford last season, winning 1-0 at the Gtech in March thanks to record Premier League goalscorer and former Brentford player Ollie Watkins.
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