English Premier
2010-12-11 - Aston Villa vs West Bromwich Albion
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 11 December 2010 - Kickoff 3pm
Aston Villa
The pressure on Gerard Houllier is building in his early days here at Villa Park. The fans are already restless and the Frenchman's actions at Anfield on Monday night was too many for some. Houllier was first criticised for applauding the Kop at the end of the game but ignoring his own fans and secondly for claiming if his side was to lose 3-0 to anyone, he was glad it was Liverpool. Another bad result against a Midlands rival could see widespread dissent.
If failing to applaud the away fans and 'jesting' about a 3-0 defeat with no passion is bad, overseeing an alarming slide in form and a fall to 16th in the Premier League is a cause for real concern. Villa find themselves only 2 points better off than Wigan in the relegation zone and need to find a result sharpish. They are 3-4-1 at Villa Park and it is at home that the results to move up the table will come. Villa have scored 12 goals and conceded 9 in their 8 home games.
The formbook does not make for good reading for Villa fans as their team has 1 win in their last 10 Premier League games. The Villians have also lost 4 in a row in all competitions, and concerningly have conceded at least 2 goals per game in those losses. They have won just 1 of their last 5 Premier League games at home, but were only defeated for the first time by Arsenal last time out here. They have again conceded at least 2 goals per game in their last 3 at Villa Park.
Ciaran Clark is suspended for this game but Ashley Young will return. Emile Heskey and Barry Bannan are both back from injury, but Luke Young and Gabby Agbonlahor are out.
West Bromwich Albion
Roberto Di Matteo may have been a little worried that his side had hit a wall recently culminating in a 0-3 home loss to Stoke City, but they have bounced back with 2 solid victories to maintain their position away from a relegation scrap. Now the Italian has a chance to further boost his resume with another impressive away win.
West Brom moved up to 9th in the Premier League table with a win over Newcastle last Sunday and they now have totalled 22 points this season. That tally leaves them as close to the Champions League places as it does to 18th which is an indication of how the Premier League has developed this season. The Baggies are 2-2-4 away from home this season, scoring 12 goals and conceding 17.
Back to back Premier League wins have been most welcome in this part of the Midlands after the side had failed to win in 5 League games in a row, losing 4 of those games. West Brom won 1-4 at Everton in their last away game, their first win away from home since the impressive win at Arsenal, a run of 5 games. The Baggies have won at Arsenal as mentioned, but also got an impressive 2-2 draw at Old Trafford although those results have been offset with defeats at Blacpool and Wigan.
A concern for West Brom is that both Peter Odemwingie and Chris Brunt are doubtful for this game, 2 of their better performers this season. Youssouf Mulumbu is back from suspension.
Head to Head
Aston Villa have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between these Midland rivals. Interestingly, all of their wins have come by the same scoreline of 2-1.
They have met 4 times in the last decade at Villa Park in the Premier League. Villa have won 2 of those games and the other 2 have been draws.
The last time they played here was 2 seasons ago and the game ended 2-1 for the home team.
Prediction
It seems to me that the home team have been underpriced somewhat in this game, especially considering the form they have been displaying in recent weeks. It would be a concern for me to back them when considering their 1 win at home recently in the League came courtesy of a late winner against an understrength Blackpool side.
West Brom, on the other hand, must come into this game full of confidence to record their first win at Villa Park in 31 years. The doubts over the fitness of Brunt and Odemwingie does worry me, but I would be surprised if both were to miss out with 7 days to go before their next fixture.
I was torn here between backing the over 2.5 goals option or backing West Brom to avoid defeat, which are both priced around the same price. However, I have decided to go with the latter as the Villa players just do not have seem to have responded to the methods of Houllier at all so far.
West Brom can score goals and I feel they will do enough to avoid defeat here.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Aston Villa 2-2 West Bromwich Albion
