Kodjia returns for rested Villa at Griffin Park

Steve Bruce’s side need to take advantage of the ‘free weekend’ of preparation for Tuesday’s Championship match at Griffin Park.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith’s 16th placed Brentford will have just over 72 hours to recover from their 4-0 FA Cup fourth round defeat against Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Both sides will go into the match on a difficult run of form. We are without a win in four after throwing away a 2-0 lead against Preston North End last weekend. Brentford’s 3-1 win at St Andrews on 2 January was their only win in the last six league matches.

Despite our unbeaten home record in the Championship, we are languishing in 13th because of our poor form on the road. In fact, Jonathan Kodjia’s winner at QPR on 18 December was the only goal we have scored in the last five away matches.

Fortunately for Bruce, Kodjia is available for Tuesday’s match after Ivory Coast’s surprise early exit from the African Cup of Nations. His return is particularly timely given that Bruce has insisted that Ross McCormack won’t be picked until his ‘attitude towards training improves’.

Kodjia is 2.19 on EnergyBet to add to his tally of nine league goals at Brentford.

We may have only scored seven league goals in 14 away matches, but with Kodjia back in tandem with Albert Adomah and new signing Henri Lansbury, we are ready to reignite our play-off push with a strong performance from the start.

Every time we have scored on the road it has been the opening goal of the match, while Brentford have only kept a single clean sheet since a goalless draw with Wigan Athletic on 1 October.

EnergyBet Match Odds:

Brentford 2.50 | Draw 3.30 | Villa 2.75

EnergyBet Expects:

• Kodjia to score anytime @ 2.19
• Villa to score the first goal @ 1.97