Southampton vs Aston Villa Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2021-11-05 - Southampton vs Aston Villa

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Southampton v Aston Villa
Football: English Premier League
Friday 5th November 2021 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

Southampton

The League Cup exit on Penalties at Stamford Bridge would have hurt, but Southampton are making a mockery of those pre-season predictions that had them tipped up for relegation. An important, and deserved, win at Vicarage Road last Saturday has moved Southampton a little further clear of the relegation zone and there is a confidence in the performances that are being produced.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has to be given a lot of credit for his time with Southampton and he has helped the team up to 14th in the Premier League table and with a 4 point gap to the relegation zone. The Saints will play the early Premier League game this weekend and they will be bidding to improve their 1-3-1 record at St Mary's where they have scored and conceded 4 goals.

Southampton have not been beaten in any of their last 4 games in all competitions in normal time, while they have secured 7 points from a possible 9 in recent Premier League fixtures. While there has to be some credit given for the fact that Southampton have lost 2 of their last 10 home Premier League games, but the manager will be looking for an improvement on the run of 1 win in 6 here.

Armando Broja has made an impact in his time with Southampton, but he is a doubt for this fixture having missed the win at Watford.

Aston Villa

They may have lost Jack Grealish, but expectations at Aston Villa have not dipped considering the outlay made by the club this summer. It means dealing with a new pressure and so far Dean Smith looks to be coming up short as manager with more questions being asked of him from the fans.

The big home defeat to West Ham United would not have helped the confidence of anyone associated with the club and it dropped Aston Villa to 15th in the Premier League table and just 3 points clear of the bottom three. The manager has to be hoping for a reaction from his squad who have a 1-0-4 record away from home in the Premier League.

Aston Villa scored a late winner at Old Trafford, but they have lost all 4 Premier League games played since that match at the end of September. The Villains have lost 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur and 3-1 at Arsenal in their last couple of away Premier League games.

Ezri Konsa is suspended after being sent off last weekend. The likes of Douglas Luiz, Bertrand Traore, Morgan Sanson, Jacob Ramsey and Danny Ings are all doubts.

Head to Head

Both Aston Villa and Southampton beat the other away from home last season.

Southampton had been unbeaten in 4 home games in all competitions against Aston Villa before that defeat and they had won 3 of those.

Prediction

The expectations for these clubs were markedly different going into the 2021/22 season, but the pressure is on Dean Smith to turn things around for Aston Villa.

Instead of pushing up the Premier League table and potentially challenging for European places, Aston Villa have struggled for consistency all season. Jack Grealish has moved on, but the players have not really filled the gap as effectively as Dean Smith would have liked, while injuries and out of form have hurt the key players remaining.

Aston Villa are likely to be without Danny Ings this week, while the likes of Bertrand Traore, Leon Bailey and Emiliano Buendia have not really been performing as the fans would have expected. Ezri Konsa is suspended and I think Aston Villa are looking vulnerable heading to the south coast and especially when you note their level of performance in defeats over the last month.

Now they have to face a Southampton team who are operating far more effectively than many believed they would be. Many tipped them up for relegation, but Southampton are beginning to turn their performances into the kind of results they deserve and they look more than capable of beating Aston Villa at home.

There is a consistency at either end of the field that Aston Villa have been lacking and Southampton look happy in the system that Ralph Hasenhuttl has them playing in. Players are in form and the wins over Leeds United and Watford could have come by much wider margins with a little more composure in front of goal.

Southampton were recently held to a 2-2 home draw by Burnley, but they deserved more out of that game and a similar level of performance will be expected to be too good for Aston Villa.

A home win will put Dean Smith in an uncomfortable position during the November international break, but on current form it is hard to see any other outcome. Southampton would like to add more goals to their football to really begin pulling away from the bottom three, but they should be able to create the chances they need to win this fixture and I think they can be backed to do that on the Asian Handicap.

The Statistics :

SOUTHAMPTON LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2021-10-23	D	2-2	H v Burnley
	2021-10-16	W	1-0	H v Leeds
	2021-09-26	L	0-1	H v Wolves
	2021-09-11	D	0-0	H v West_Ham
	2021-08-22	D	1-1	H v Man_Utd
	2021-05-18	L	0-2	H v Leeds

ASTON_VILLA LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2021-10-22	L	3-1	A v Arsenal
	2021-10-03	L	2-1	A v Tottenham
	2021-09-25	W	0-1	A v Man_Utd
	2021-09-11	L	3-0	A v Chelsea
	2021-08-14	L	3-2	A v Watford
	2021-05-19	W	1-2	A v Tottenham

HEAD TO HEAD SOUTHAMPTON v ASTON_VILLA
DATE	HOME	SCORE	AWAY
2021-01-30	Southampton	0-1	Aston_Villa
2020-02-22	Southampton	2-0	Aston_Villa
2015-12-05	Southampton	1-1	Aston_Villa
2015-05-16	Southampton	6-1	Aston_Villa
2013-12-04	Southampton	2-3	Aston_Villa
2012-09-22	Southampton	4-1	Aston_Villa