Premier League betting – Aston Villa vs Arsenal

Aston Villa vs Arsenal betting preview

Aston Villa     League Form: LDDWDL     League Position: 13th

Aston Villa went down 2-0 at Blackburn on Sunday and continued their poor recent form. Without several of their more experienced players, Villa have now won only one of their previous 6. Although they did run Manchester United close in the 2-2 draw a few weeks ago, which manager Gerard Houllier will take heart from going into the weekends clash against Arsenal. Stuart Downing is Aston Villa’s top scorer so far this season with 4 goals and the attacking midfielder is well worth a bet at 16/1 with Coral to open the scoring. Promising youngster Marc Albrighton is out of the weekend clash after having an appendix operation, while their lengthy list of doubts include: John Carew, Carlos Cuellar, Emile Heskey, Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell.

Arsenal     League Form: WWLWWL     League Position: 3rd

Arsenal’s week has gone from bad to worse, after losing at home to local rivals Tottenham for the first time at since 1993. They went down 2-0 in Portugal against Braga and influential midfielder Cesc Fabregas sustained a fresh hamstring injury that could keep him out for up to 3 weeks. Despite this, they still go into the tie away at Villa favourites and best priced at 5/4 with BlueSq to return to winning ways. Marouane Chamakh is starting to find his form after his summer move to the Emirates and Stan James are offering a standout price of 2/1 for the Moroccan striker to score at any time. In addition to losing their captain the Gunners will also be without Emmanuel Eboue, Abou Diaby, Thomas Vermaelen and Manuel Almunia. However, they could be boosted by the return of Robin Van Persie who Wenger left out of the midweek clash with Braga.

Match Prediction:      Arsenal Win Best Priced at 5/4 Blue Sq

Arsenal will be determined to get back to winning ways after two disappointing defeats, and they should do that against a Villa side missing several players. Both sides have conceded and scored plenty recently, so there should be goals on show. A 2-1 Arsenal win looks a really good bet at 17/2 with Sky Bet.  As does Arsenal to do a reverse of last weekend and come from behind and win at 10/1 with Paddy Power. However Aston Villa are a good price at 13/5 with BoyleSports to get the win, considering they are at home against an Arsenal side wavering after two defeats.

By Sam Markham

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