Aston Villa v West Brom Betting 300912

September 29, 2012
Online Betting King
Football
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Aston Villa v West Brom Betting Preview

Aston Villa welcome midlands rivals West Brom to Villa Park on Sunday. Villa come into the game after a triumphant extra time 4-2 victory at the Etihad in the Capital One Cup. The game has been rescheduled to Sunday 30^th September following the announcement that it is live on Sky Sports. Kick off at 4pm. Choose a free bet for this match here.

Aston Villa lost 4-1 away at pointless Southampton in their last Premier League encounter. It was a dismal performance from Villa, highlighting the weaknesses in their defence, as Southampton broke through on numerous occasions and could have scored more. But, following their midweek cup win against champions City things are starting to look up for Paul Lamberts side. After a solid defensive performance, Villa capitalised on lacklustre City defending to force the game into extra time, eventually winning 4-2.

Paul Lambert is adamant new signing Christen Benteke and prolific forward Darren Bent will gel and form a menacing partnership. The Belgian international has made an impressive start to his Villa career following a summer move from Genk; where he scored 19 goals in 37 appearances. He scored on his debut against Swansea, in the 2-0 home victory, before an impressive performance at Southampton where he came close to scoring on more than one occasion.

West Brom have made a solid start to the new season and currently sit in fourth place, after picking up 10 points from a possible 15. After keeping three clean sheets in the opening five league games, it is clear that West Brom have a team that is going to be difficult to break down this season. Both Everton and Liverpool have failed to score against West Brom this season, reinforcing the strength of their defence.

However, West Brom have looked poor in their last two Premier League matches. After losing 3-0 away to Fulham, Albion then struggled to break down Reading, before eventually winning 1-0 through a lucky Lukaku goal. But there have been promising signs this season and West Brom are more than capable of shutting up shop and keeping a clean sheet. It is offensively were they are struggling.

Prediction:

After a dismal outing in their last Premier League game Aston Villa will be keen to reproduce a performance that saw them beat Man City midweek. But it is hard to see how they will break down a stubborn West Brom without any creative midfielders. West Brom have also been playing poorly of late, but were still able to grind out a 1-0 victory against Reading. It is clear that they are strong at the back and will be difficult to break down. Therefore, with both teams struggling offensively it is likely this game will be a draw and could even be a 0-0 stalemate. The draw is 9/4.

Highlighted Bets:

1) As the teams are very similarly matched, it is likely that this game will be another tight affair with very little in it. Both teams are averaging under 2.5 goals per game (both teams have had 3/5 games under) and less than three total goals at 4/5 looks a solid shout. It is hard to see how there will be many goals in this game as both teams are suited to playing on the counter attack, and may be unable to force a breakthrough in open play.

2) In West Broms opening league matches 9/11 goals have been in the second half, 7/14 for Aston Villa. The second half to have more goals offers fantastic value at 19/20. Both teams regularly have more goals in the second half, and in a tight derby game this is going to be the likely outcome. A more risky bet would be for the first goal to come in the second half at 12/5. Neither team will want to concede first which may make the first half a tense affair with little attacking, making this a great value bet.

3) As mentioned earlier, it is likely that this game will be a tight match ending in a draw. The last time these two teams met, it was a goalless draw at the Hawthorns, and it could be a similar result on Sunday. A 0-0 correct score not only offers a realistic chance of winning, but represents fantastic value at 10/1.

Recap: