Stoke City V Aston Villa: Will Villa bite back at the Brittania?

Stoke City V Aston Villa

Saturday, 13^th March – 15:00 GMT (English Premier League)

Matt’s Tip: Both teams to score – 1.91 SkyBet (LOST!)

Value Punt: Stoke City to WIN 3-2 @ 40/1 SportingBet

We’re going goal crazy here, or Goals Galore as a certain Mr. Fred Done of BetFred would say. Our second pick is another ‘Both teams to score’ as we put our shillings on both Stoke City and Aston Villa getting on the score sheet in what promises to be an entertaining affair if past results between the two are anything to go by, with two of the previous three meetings producing 4+ goals.

Stoke (3.40 Expekt), whom are almost certain to stay up for the second successive season, will now have their hungry eyes set on a top ten finish, what would be outstanding for a team with very few, if any, stand out players in their squad. Their physical, aggressive manner has entitled them to the tag of ‘most awkward team in the league’, with no-one in their right mind actually looking forward to their fixtures with Stoke, especially if its at The Brittania, fortress Britannia as the fans like to call it as Stoke don’t go down without a fight at home.

However, their record at home of 6-4-4 paints a different picture, one that gives off a vibe that Stoke are far from unbeatable at home, although its taken some of England’s finest to dethrone Stoke from their kingdom. With Birmingham’s 1-0 win being perhaps the only anomaly, Arsenal, Chelsea & Man Utd are the only teams to have beaten Stoke on Potters soil. That just about says it all into how difficult, robust and stubborn a side Stoke are when playing in front of a buoyant home crowd. Even so, genuine quality has proven to get teams through a Stoke physical this season so the Potters are exposed as they welcome Aston Villa to The Brittania with the aim being to record their first home victory against a team inside the top seven in the table.

Villa (2.30 VCbet) made a quick recovery from their Carling Cup final hangover by sticking four past Reading last weekend in a 4-2 victory which sealed their entry into the last four of the competition. However, their progression in the tournament didn’t come without it’s fair share of scares, big ones as well as Villa went into the break 2-0 down at The Madjeski. Their defence was all over the place that day, with no sign of man marking and their positioning wayward. The second half was a different story though as Villa tore through a mediocre Reading defence and slamming home four after the break to make for a convincing looking scoreline in a not so convincing game of football for Villa.

That outing at reading alone proved Villa are still vulnerable at the back but have the class up front to make up for their defensive flaws. However, against a Stoke side who have a knack of scoring in their home encounters (13/14) Villa could come unstuck if they don’t score at least a couple at The Brittania. That’s a real possibility though as Villa themselves are partial to scoring in away outings, which is handy. In twelve away outings thus far, Villa have scored at least one goal in ten of them, with their only drab spells in front of goal coming at Tottenham Hotspur (0-0) and Arsenal (3-0). They’ve scored at Chelsea and Man Utd, which proves they have the quality to unlock some of England’s tightest and expensive defences, while goals at Birmingham and Fulham are evidence enough that Villa have the tenacity to plug away at those well drilled defences, much like that of Stoke City’s.

Both teams to score – This really does look a shoo-in on paper for ‘Goals Galore‘ (Both teams to score) as I can’t see either side not scoring. Stoke generally always score at The Brittania (13/14), while Villa have only failed in their attempts to find the back of the net in two out of twelve away outings, so the statistics read in our favour. Moreover, we feel both teams have the beating of their opposing defences, with Stoke’s physical and aerial attributes looks too much for Villa’s defence to handle, and this was the case when the pair met at The Brittania last season in a 3-2 win for the Potters, while Villa have the quality and composure to get around a physical strong but not so able Stoke defence.

I don’t think this will end in the same scoreline as last season, 3-2 to Stoke (40/1 SportingBet) but I do feel both sides are more than capable of breaking through each others rearguards. In fact, I’d be unpleasantly surprised were this to end in a stalemate or a to NIL win for either side, as I think this fixture is made for Goals for both sides.