Aston Villavs.Brentford

While the Bees have been beaten twice since travelling to the United States, Villa have scored five goals in two games and remain undefeated.

Match preview

Joining Chelsea atop the Summer Series standings on four points, Aston Villa secured their first win of the pre-season period on Wednesday, when they beat Fulham 2-0 in Orlando.

After over an hour of delay due to thunderstorms, the Villans' new club-record signing Moussa Diaby scored on his first appearance in a claret and blue shirt, following a Cameron Archer penalty miss and Jaden Philogene's opening goal.

France winger Diaby - who arrived for a reported £51.9m fee earlier this month - was introduced by boss Unai Emery at half time, and after showing flashes of his potential then added Villa's second with a powerful low strike.

The West Midlands side had already followed their pre-season opener at Walsall - which ended 1-1 at Bescot Stadium - with a 3-3 draw against Premier League rivals Newcastle United in Pennsylvania, as they warm up for the 2023-24 campaign.

Newcastle will be Villa's opponents again at St James' Park in a fortnight's time, for their first competitive match of the new season, but first they are set to take on Brentford before tackling Lazio and Valencia early next month.

Emery's squad are also preparing for a Europa Conference League playoff, having stormed up the standings to finish seventh in 2022-23, while new recruits Diaby, Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres start to settle in.

By contrast with Sunday's opponents, Brentford fell to another defeat in their second Summer Series game on Wednesday, being beaten 2-0 by Brighton at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Bees went behind midway through the first half in Atalanta, then saw their deficit doubled in the 58th minute. Despite pushing hard to ignite a fightback, with forwards Keane Lewis-Potter and Bryan Mbeumo both coming close to scoring, Thomas Frank's side were unable to work their way back into the game.

Having started the Premier League's Stateside tournament with a 3-2 loss to Fulham last week, Brentford are still searching for a first pre-season victory - they were also held 1-1 by National League club Boreham Wood upon their return to action.

Concluding the 2022-23 campaign in style, Frank's men had finished with a flourish in May; beating West Ham United, Manchester City and Tottenham in their final three fixtures to secure ninth place in the table.

Since promotion to the top flight, Brentford have already progressed from finishing 13th in 2021-22 to securing a top-half spot last term, but it remains to be seen how the absence of top scorer and talisman Ivan Toney will affect the London club's fortunes in the season ahead.

They kick off the new campaign at home to Spurs in two weeks' time, after meeting Villa at FedExField and then hosting Lille for a friendly next weekend.

Aston Villa friendly form:

D

D

W

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

W

D

W

D

D

W

Brentford friendly form:

D

L

L

Brentford form (all competitions):

W

W

W

D

L

L

Team News

Further boosting Aston Villa's attacking options, Jamaican winger Leon Bailey has joined up with Unai Emery's squad in the United States, having been given time off after featuring at the CONCACAF Gold Cup; meanwhile, Philippe Coutinho returned to action on Wednesday and should be involved again this weekend.

After finding the net as a substitute against Fulham, Moussa Diaby will be pushing for a first Villa start, in support of either last term's top scorer Ollie Watkins - a former Brentford favourite - or Cameron Archer, who is back in the fold following an impressive loan spell at Middlesbrough.

Another ex-Brentford man, Ezri Konsa, could continue at right-back, though Matty Cash is also in contention. Jacob Ramsey, Bertrand Traore, Jhon Duran and Alex Moreno all remain unavailable.

Brentford are soon set to complete the sale of Spanish stars David Raya and Sergi Canos, but have been active in the transfer market already this summer.

Republic of Ireland defender Nathan Collins and Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flekken are the Bees' headline signings so far, and both featured in the loss to Brighton.

As Ivan Toney is not available, last season's second-top scorer Bryan Mbeumo joins another permanent arrival, former loanee Kevin Schade, in competing with Keane Lewis-Potter for a place up front. French forward Yoane Wissa offers another alternative for Brentford's tactically versatile boss Thomas Frank.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Luiz, Kamara; Diaby, McGinn, Buendia; Watkins

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Flekken; Ajer, Mee, Collins, Henry; Onyeka, Janelt, Damsgaard; Schade, Wissa, Mbeumo

We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Brentford

After some more impressive recruitment, Aston Villa can now select from several options in the final third, so they should have too much firepower for a Brentford side which has started pre-season slowly. The Birmingham club are likely to score more than once in Maryland, while their opponents' new-look attack will take time to gel.

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