Hello and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE text commentary of the Premier League clash between high-flying Aston Villa and struggling Brighton. Dean Smith's side can move into second place with a victory and will be confident of doing so after dismantling Arsenal last time out. Brighton, meanwhile, have won just once this season and were held by fellow strugglers Burnley before the international break. Team news to follow in a moment, kick-off is an hour away. Stay tuned for match stats, manager comments and all the rest!
Premier League / Matchday 9
Villa Park / 21.11.2020
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- E. Konsa(47')
- D. Welbeck(12')
- S. March(56')
Live
Live Updates
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Updated 21/11/2020 at 16:58 GMT
1'
It takes Grealish all of 35 seconds to win his first free-kick of the match. He steals possession close to the left corner flag and Lamptey fouls him before he does any further damage.
1'
Kick-off! The players take the knee and then Brighton get us underway!
14:55
Right, there are just FIVE minutes until kick-off at Villa Park. It's Aston Villa versus Brighton in the Premier League, it's LIVE and it's NEXT!
14:50
Aston Villa have won five of their seven Premier League games so far this season (L2), netting 18 goals in the process. It took the Villans 13 games to score as many Premier League goals last season, while they picked up their fifth win in their 19th game in 2019-20.
14:45
Brighton's results haven't quite reflected the performances. That must change today. It doesn't matter how they get it done, but Potter's men need a win. It may be early days but one win in eight is truly worrying.
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We have a new leader at the top of the Premier League table...
14:40
Pre-match stat: Brighton have never won away against Aston Villa in all competitions, drawing three and losing nine of their 12 games. Indeed, the Seagulls have lost all five of their visits to Villa Park in the top-flight.
14:35
Graham Potter: "When you look back on the games we have played, from a performance perspective it’s probably the best we have played, certainly since I have been at the club as a block of games, apart maybe from half of a half against West Brom. Generally the performance level has been good. Then we are a little bit frustrated of course with the results because they are not quite what we wanted. We have been trying to improve, that’s where we are at."
14:30
Smith on Brighton: “They have some very good players and we’ll certainly have to be at our best. We need to go and get a result at Villa Park because our last two results there haven’t been good. We’re coming up against a really good footballing team.”
14:25
Villa's erratic form has encapsulated a wild Premier League campaign so far. Smith's side started with four straight wins - including THAT 7-2 victory over Liverpool - before losing heavily to Leeds and Southampton. They got back on track with an impressive 3-0 win at Arsenal last time out. But it's just so difficult to know what you are going to get with them.
14:20
Pre-match stat: Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last eight league meetings with Brighton (W4 D4), since a 0-1 defeat in December 1980.
14:15
Lewis Dunk returns after suspension and replaces Dan Burn in the Brighton defence. He's one of two changes made by Graham Potter, with the fit again Solly March coming in for Joel Veltman.
14:10
Smith doesn't believe in frequent rotation and it's absolutely no surprise that he sticks with the same eleven that defeated Arsenal so comfortably. If it's not broke, why fix it?
14:05
Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, Luiz, McGinn, Trezeguet, Barkley, Grealish, Watkins.. subs: Steer, Taylor, Hourihane, Traore, Nakamba, El Ghazi, Elmohamady. /// Brighton XI: Ryan, Lamptey, Dunk, White, Webster, March, Gross, Bissouma, Lallana, Welbeck, Maupay.. subs: Steele, Connolly, Jahanbakhsh, Alzate, Burn, Veltman, Molumby.