Coaching debut for Steven Gerrard in the Premier League

An international break lends itself to a new impetus. That was the opinion of two Premier League clubs in the motherland of football, and they made sure to change coaches in the last few days. At Villa Park on Saturday afternoon at 4pm, Steven Gerrard will make his Premier League coaching debut as Aston Villa take on Brighton.

With the Liverpool legend in the dugout, Aston Villa are hoping for a turnaround as Europe was the target for the Villians after multi-million pound investments this summer. At present, however, the relegation battle dominates, in stark contrast to the Seagulls from Brighton. The Potter charges are in seventh place after a very good start to the season.

Bookmakers, however, believe the new impetus will have an effect and the losing streak at Aston Villa will come to an end. Odds of around 2.50 are on offer for an Aston Villa home win over Brighton, with roughly triple the stake tempting on a visitors win.

Aston Villa – Statistics & current form

Even if the big star leaves the club, with investments of 100 million euros, further development is required. This was not at all to be seen at Aston Villa in the current season. Compared to last year, the team from Birmingham currently has nine points less to show.

Five defeats in a row

The change of coach during the international break was by no means a surprise, but was absolutely necessary given recent performances. In the Premier League, Aston Villa conceded five defeats in a row and also had to cope with the FA Cup exit.

The Villians suffered a longer negative run in the horror year 2015/16, when they lost eleven in a row. For the sixth time in PL history, Aston Villa have conceded five defeats in a row. Instead of dreaming of Europe, the spectre of relegation is currently being felt.

Gerrard to give Aston Villa new lease of life

The signing of Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was certainly a coup. At Glasgow Rangers, the former midfielder earned his first coaching spurs and celebrated great successes, breaking Celtic Glasgow’s dominance and leading Rangers back to the top of Scottish football.

With Aston Villa’s squad, a single-digit place in the table is definitely realistic and must be the goal. Steven Gerrard is the 13th Premier League coach of Aston Villa, only two players before him have been able to celebrate a premiership win (John Gregory in 1998, Gerard Houllier in 2010). If Gerrard also succeeds in doing so, odds of around 2.50 are offered for this bet on the Aston Villa vs Brighton clash.

It will be important to stabilise the defence. 20 goals conceded means the third weakest defence in the league. After Emiliano Martinez had the best catch rate last year (75.4%), he is currently only 18th out of 20 (63.8%).

Predicted Aston Villa line-up:
Martinez – Targett, Mings, Tuanzebe, Cash – Nakamba, McGinn – El Ghazi, Buendia, Bailey – Watkins

Last matches played by Aston Villa:

Premier League
11/05 2021 – Southampton 1 – 0 Aston Villa

10/31 2021 – Aston Villa 1 – 4 West Ham

10/22 2021 – Arsenal London 3 – 1 Aston Villa

10/16 2021 – Aston Villa 2 – 3 Wolverhampton

10/03 2021 – Tottenham 2 – 1 Aston Villa

Brighton – Statistics & current form

Seventh place after eleven matchdays means an excellent result for Brighton & Hove Albion. And yet, there is a bit of a hangover for the Seagulls, after all, the team has squandered an even better starting position in recent weeks.

Brighton winless in six games

17 points currently mean a full seven points more than last year after eleven matchdays. However, it should not go unmentioned that the last Premier League win was on 19 September. Brighton won four of their first five league games.

In recent weeks, the team has gone winless six times in a row, but only suffered a defeat at home against Manchester City (1:4). Brighton are still without defeat away from home (two wins, three draws). Together with the Seagulls, only Chelsea and West Ham are still without defeat away from home in 2021/22.

Jubilee for Graham Potter

Not only will this be a special game for Steven Gerrard, but also for Brighton coach Graham Potter. He will be taking his place on the bench for the 100th time in a competitive match. Fans of attacking football should probably look for another game on Saturday afternoon, because Brighton is a team that acts from a very stable defence and tries to set pinpricks with a fast switching game.

Brighton rarely score many goals. An average of 2.18 goals per game is the third lowest value this season. Since the home side are also playing it safe after their negative run and with a new coach, a prediction of under 2.5 is absolutely obvious for Aston Villa against Brighton.

Predicted line-up of Brighton:
Steele – Cucurella, Dunk, Duffy, Veltman – Bissouma, Lalllana – March, Mwepu, Lamptey – Trossard

Last matches played by Brighton:

Premier League
11/06 2021 – Brighton 1 – 1 Newcastle United

10/30 2021 – Liverpool FC 2 – 2 Brighton

Carabao Cup
10/27 2021 – Leicester (4)2 – 2(2) Brighton

Premier League
10/23 2021 – Brighton 1 – 4 Manchester City

10/16 2021 – Norwich 0 – 0 Brighton

Aston Villa – Brighton Direct Comparison / H2H Record

This was the first time the two sides faced each other in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season. The Villians from Birmingham still managed to win this game against the Seagulls from Brighton. In the three games that followed, Aston Villa not only remained winless (two draws, one defeat), but were never in the lead.

Nevertheless, Aston Villa can also be described as a kind of fearful opponent for Brighton, as the Seagulls have won only one of the last twelve duels across competitions.

Aston Villa – Brighton Tip

At Villa Park on Saturday, two teams will face each other whose recent results have not been particularly satisfactory. Aston Villa are on a five-game losing streak, while the visitors have won just one of their last six games, but haven’t celebrated a victory either. In addition, the Seagulls are a very defensive team and accordingly a game without great scoring chances is to be expected.

The betting odds on Under 2.5 between Aston Villa and Brighton are very good, but also the high betting odds for Under 1.5 are definitely worth a try with a moderate stake. Gerrard will try to bring structure and order into the Villa game and minimise the risk accordingly. As Brighton rarely stand for goal festivals anyway, three units stake for the bet on a maximum of one goal is absolutely justifiable. A forecast on the three-way market is almost impossible, because a clear trend is not visible.