Brighton vs Aston Villa Bet Builder Tips, Preview

Japanese forward/midfielder Kaoru Mitoma is enjoying another impressive season with the Seagulls, playing a key role in the opposition’s final third. Mitoma has chipped in with 7 goals and 3 assists in the Premier League alone and only Georginio Rutter has taken more shots for Brighton this season (50).

The 27-year-old has 47 shots against his name and he has featured in 29 league games for Brighton so far this season. Mitoma is averaging 1.83 shots per 90 minutes in the league and he boasts a shots on target ratio of 44.7%, so you can see why he has been so lethal in the final third.
We need Mitoma to take at least 2 shots on Wednesday night against Brighton and the stats suggest that he is up to the challenge.

Surprise, surprise, Ollie Watkins has taken more shots than any Aston Villa, or Brighton, player in the Premier League this season by quite some distance. The England international, who has scored 13 times in the 2024/25 campaign, has managed to take 70 shots in his 29 league appearances so far.

The 29-year-old, who returned from injury as a substitute at the weekend, is currently averaging 3.07 shots per 90 minutes in the Premier League which is why we have backed the Villans striker to take 3 or more shots against Brighton on Wednesday night.

Watkins heads into the game with an xG of 13.9 and even his non penalty xG stands at 12.3, which just goes to show what a goal threat the former Brentford man has been this season.

We’ve selected Mitoma in our first tip for his attacking ability but the Japanese international is one of the hardest working forwards/midfielders in the Premier League who gets stuck into his defensive duties as well.

Mitoma has put in 36 tackles, winning 20 of them, and most of those have arrived in the defensive and midfield third (13 each). However, the 27-year-old only has a success rate of 36.6% against opposition dribblers and this might explain why he has given away the joint-highest number of fouls in the Brighton squad this season (34) along side Georginio Rutter and Carlos Baleba.

We’re expecting Mitoma to put in another shift in midweek against a tough Aston Villa side and we have backed the Seagull’s star to commit at least 1 foul on Wednesday night.

We’ve already mentioned Watkins’ shooting ability but for this tip we are going to focus on his accuracy. While the England man has had more shots than any other Aston Villa player, he has also hit the target more often as well.

Watkins has seen 30 of his 70 efforts hit the target and the striker is averaging 1.31 shots on target per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season. The now departed Jhon Duran is second for Aston Villa for shots on target this season (15) and he has only managed half the amount that Watkins has totted up.

The Aston Villa talisman heads into the Brighton game with a shots on target ratio of 42.9% and we only need him to hit the target once on Wednesday.