Aston Villa welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Villa Park this Saturday in the Premier League, following the international break.
Villa went into the international break with an emphatic 5-1 victory at Carrow Road against Norwich City. There was brace from record signing Wesley on the day as well as strikes for Conor Hourihane, Douglas Luiz and Jack Grealish.
Brighton also went into the break on the back of an incredible victory over Tottenham Hotspur. The Seagulls defeated the North London side 3-0. Summer signing Neal Maupay opened the scoring after just three minutes before debutant Aaron Connelly scored a brace to round off the win.
Villa Park is becoming a fortress
Villa are unbeaten in their last three league games on home territory and could make it four in a row if they avoid defeat against the Seagulls.
They are boosted by the fact that they have never lost to the south coast team at home in all competitions. The sides have met 11 times at Villa Park in all competitions with Villa winning eight of those games and drawing three.
The Villans have also recorded a victory over Brighton this season as they beat them 3-1 in the Carabao Cup last month. Villa could also secure back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since May 2015.
Villa boss Dean Smith will be marking one year in charge of Villa this weekend and had this to say in his pre-match press conference: "We feel that result had been coming, some of our performances had suggested that.
"But we can't become complacent. This league can punish you in the flash of an eye. We need to improve. We're striving to do that."
Can Brighton kick-on?
That victory over Spurs last time was only the Seagulls' second win in 17 attempts, the only other one coming on the opening day against Watford. The international break probably came at the wrong time for Graham Potters' side as he would have liked to use the momentum gained from that win to kick on and move up the table.
Brighton have not beaten a newly promoted side in the Premier League, losing three and drawing two. Brighton could though keep a consecutive clean sheet for the first time in a year.
Brighton will be hoping new signing Maupay can replicate his form against Villa from last season when he scored in both of Brentford's fixtures against the Villains.
Potter had this to say in his pre-match press conference: "I felt the daily work of the players, the consistency of their performances, was that the performance that you witnessed against Spurs was a possibility.
"Now our challenge is that we have to maintain that level and try and improve. We are not at our max. We are at maximum effort but I still think we can improve, so that's good."
Team News
Both Tom Heaton and Bjorn Engels are back for Villa following minor injuries. James Chester and Jota will be the only absentees for Villa.
Leandro Trossard has returned to training for Brighton and could be back in the squad. Shane Duffy and Solly March are also back for the Seagulls. Bernardo and Jose Izquierdo remain injured.