Excluding the premier league, Brighton have been bad in every other competition that they have played, the Europa and now the Carabao. Brighton very good chances to score, two gifted to them by the Chelsea goalkeeper, but Brighton still could not take the lead until Jackson's goal. Had Brighton scored first, Chelsea would have been unable to equalize. It was a good result for Chelsea, but they still need to win their next premier league game, this is the competition were they have made their supporters the most frustrating with their position on the table still looking like they will be going down more.
Maybe Brighton is like Real Madrid in Champions League or Sevilla in Europa League where they turn strong in specific league?
Brighton had a bad results against Aston Villa, they only won once time from 11 matches. But considering how good is Brighton in this season, I think they will able to beat Aston Villa in their own home.
It seems yes, they prefer to focus on certain leagues as their main goal to achieve the best position, and I think it was also done by the two teams that you mentioned above, and the strategy in my opinion is far better than focusing all energy for all League but they don't get any results at the end of the season.
But Aston Villa is also not bad at the beginning of the season, although they have a long distance far in the standings I personally predict that Aston Villa can win the match against Brighton at their meeting this time, considering the results of their head to head meetings so far, But this time Brighton might have the opportunity to change that history this week.