Fifth placed Aston Villa look to keep up their promotion challenge as they welcome bottom-of-the-table Sunderland to Villa Park for this Championship encounter. Villa are keen to return to the Premier League as soon as possible and have put themselves in a position where they are genuine promotion contenders this season. A run of just one defeat in five, and two in fourteen, has lifted them to fifth in the table. They sit seven points off the automatic promotion places, but must watch for those coming up behind them as they only have a three point advantage over seventh place.
A 2-1 victory at Queens Park Rangers at the weekend was a good way of bouncing back following a home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday before the international break, and they will be eager to make it back-to-back victories here. Recent League Form – WLWDWL.
English Football League Championship – Tuesday 21th November – 19:45 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 14/5 at Ladbrokes |
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Aston Villa
SunderlandSunderland
Bottom of the table Sunderland are facing the extremely real prospect of consecutive relegations. This time last season they were in the Premier League, and if their form continues they will be a League One side come May. They have picked up just one victory all season, away at Norwich in August, and are on a run of fifteen league matches without a win. A 2-2 draw at home to Millwall at the weekend keeps them rooted to the bottom of the Championship, four points adrift of safety. A big concern is their defensive weaknesses, as they are yet to keep a clean sheet this season. In fact, the last time they prevented the opposition scoring in a league match was at Hull in May. Recent League Form – DLDLDD.
Head to Head
These sides have met 139 times since their first back in 1901, but this is the first time they will have played each other in the second tier of English football. Sunderland’s 3-1 home victory in a Premier League fixture in January 2016 is their only win over Villa in ten meetings. Villa have won four in that time, with the other five finishing level. The last three meetings with Villa as hosts have been draws.
Betting Odds and Predictions
With the gulf between the sides with regards league position, we are a little surprised that Aston Villa aren’t a shorter priced favourite here. Skybet have the hosts priced at 8/11, which we think provides fantastic value. Sunderland are priced at 4, which is shorter than we would have predicted, and the draw is 14/5. Villa have drawn three of their eight home matches this season, 50% of Sunderland’s away games have ended level, and four of the last five meetings with Villa as the home side have been draws. So, statistically, the draw is the most likely outcome. The home side are the more likely to pick up maximum points, and we can’t decide between a home win or a draw here.
Unfortunately, Villa or Draw in the Double Chance market is only priced at 1/5 and doesn’t provide the best value. The Draw no Bet market is slightly better, with Villa priced at 3/10. This is a little better value, with your stake returned if the match ends level. The last three meetings have had at least three goals, so Over 2.5 Goals looks a good bet statistically at odds of 21/20.
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip here is Aston Villa to win in the Draw No Bet market. The price is only 3/10 at bet 365, which isn’t great value, but any profit is a profit and that’s our main aim.