Aston Villa and Fulham meet in a Championship clash at Villa Park, with both sides eager to keep themselves within touching distance of the top six.
Villa couldn’t have imagined a worse start to their season, losing two of the opening three matches, but they bounced back to put themselves just outside the top six. A run of eight matches unbeaten, which included five wins and five clean sheets, came to an end last weekend with defeat at current Championship table-toppers Wolves.
Manager Steve Bruce should be slightly worried by the performance his side put in against Wolves. They were completely outplayed from start to finish and must improve considerably if they are to mount a serious promotion challenge. Recent League Form – LWWWWD.
England – Championship – Villa Park, Birmingham – Saturday 21st October – 17:00 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 5/2 at Ladbrokes |
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Aston Villa
FulhamFulham
Fulham are another team with promotion aspirations but are drawing far too many games to get themselves into a position where they will be considered genuine contenders. They showed fighting spirit to come back from 2-0 down to earn a point at home to Cardiff last weekend, which must be praised, but it was their sixth draw in just twelve league matches.
That’s a lot of dropped points which could prove to be the difference between finishing in the top six and missing out on at least a play-off place. The biggest plus point for them ahead of this match is the fact they seem to be a better team away from home. They have just one win from six at home, but have won three and drawn two of six on their travels. Recent League Form – DWWDLW.
Team News
Aston Villa will be without left-back Neil Taylor, who is suspended for this match. Andre Green is still out with a hamstring problem, and Jack Grealish is on the long-term injury list with a kidney injury suffered during pre-season. Fulham are still without Lucas Piazon, who fractured his fibula early in the season, and Sheyi Ojo, who damaged his shoulder at the end of September.
Head to Head
There have been 49 meetings since 1949, with Aston Villa just edging the head to head with seventeen victories. Fulham have won sixteen meetings, and sixteen have finished level. The last five meetings have seen Fulham win four, meaning they have the edge in recent years. Aston Villa’s 1-0 win in October 2016 is their only victory over Fulham in the last seven meetings. Fulham won the most recent meeting, 3-1 at home in April this year, in a match that Villa played almost 70 minutes of with just ten-men.
Betting Odds and Predictions
This should be a tight and hard-fought encounter, and the betting odds reflect how close the teams are in quality. Aston Villa are the slight favourite, probably owing to their home advantage, and are priced at 5/4 with Sky Bet. Fulham are priced at 21/10, and the draw is 12/5. We believe these teams are evenly matched in all areas, and have similar form, so the draw looks the best bet in this match. There hasn’t been a draw in this fixture since April 2013, so maybe one is due considering the teams have ten draws between them this season.
Both teams have scored in Fulham’s last seven league matches, and we think there’s a big possibility of both teams finding the net here. Only one team has scored in one of Villa’s last seven games, but both have scored in four of the last six meetings and the importance of the game should see plenty of goal action. The odds on Both Teams to Score are 4/6, which provide potential for a decent profit.
BTTS and the match to be a draw is priced at 3/1, which isn’t the greatest value for what is essentially a double although we believe both are likely.
Three of the last four meetings have had at least three goals, so Over 2.5 Goals looks a safe bet based on recent history. This is available at odds of 5/6
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip for this is Both Teams to Score, at odds of 4/6 with Sky Bet.