Aston Villa

Arsenal are waiting on the fitness of Thierry Henry to see whether the Gunners forward can take part in the cup tie at home against Aston Villa. Online bookmaker Ladbrokes have an Arsenal v Aston Villa FA Cup betting promotion running for the big match. The visitors will be looking to striker Darren Bent to fire them through to the next round at the Emirates. It is not going to be an easy afternoon for the Villains who have only won three on the road in the Premier League this season, although they have only lost three, picking up six draws. They suffered a home 2-1 defeat at Villa Park in the league against Arsenal earlier in the season, when Yossi Benayoun popped up with a late winner for the Gunners. Villa have won their last two away games through, beating Chelsea comprehensively at Stamford Bridge and then squeezing out a win against Wolves. Striker Darren Bent has scored in three of his last four games now, and he has been joined up front by Robbie Keane to give Villa a bit of extra thrust. But is surrounding Darren Bent, who Ladbrokes are focusing their Arsenal v Aston Villa betting promotion around. If the England striker scores at anytime during the game, then Ladbrokes will refund all losing First Goalscorer bets. So that is going to be some great value in your football betting to take there.

In the Arsenal v Aston Villa First Goalscorer market, it is no surprise that Robin Van Persie is favourite to open the scoring at 5/2, with the Gunners being at home, while Villa striker Bent and Keane are out at 7/1 and 8/1 respectively. You can dip into the First Goalscorer market with this insurance on your side as well. The bookie will pay out refunds on your First Goalscorer markets if Bent scores at any time during the match. Popular bookie Ladbrokes offer a free £50  bet for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account with a free bet, up to the maximum value of £50 giving you some great free betting cash to enjoy.

Saturday 3rd December

Aston Villa v Manchester United

The evening kick off see’s Alex McLeish take on his former Aberdeen manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, as Aston Villa host Manchester United.

Villa were outclassed when they travelled to Tottenham just under two weeks ago and it was alarming to see the gap between two sides who were pretty even 18 months ago. The 2-0 scoreline does not really tell the full story as Spurs were by far the better team and looked stronger in every department. Since then Villa played out a 0-0 draw with Swansea at the Liberty Stadium last Sunday. The game was overshadowed by the tragic death of Wales manager Gary Speed that morning. Both sets of players done well to remain professional and do their jobs but there was certainly more than a few affected by the news. McLeish, who took over in the summer, will be anxious for his side to hit back infront of their own fans tomorrow night and make amends for the Spurs game where they never turned up at all. Their home record has been good and they have suffered just one defeat at Villa Park all season. That defeat was when they went down to 10 men in the first half against West Brom so the home fans will be expecting another big performance from their heroes.

Manchester United were the victim of a terrible decision from the assistant referee last Saturday which proved crucial as they dropped a couple of points in the 1-1 home draw against Newcastle. The equaliser came from the penalty spot after Rio Ferdinand was adjudged to have brought down Hatem Ben Arfa in the area. The United player clearly played the ball but the penalty was given and converted. It was United’s first dropped points since losing 6-1 at home to rivals Manchester City. Ferguson is not silly, he knows that they can’t afford to slip much further behind the league leaders as their big squad will no doubt negate the usual problems such as injuries and suspensions later in the season. Away from home United have looked more clinical than last season when they drew too many games. Four wins and two draws from six matches is certainly heading in the right direction and what will be pleasing from the manager’s point of view is the fact they have conceded just three goals on their travels – the lowest amount in the league.

History also suggests tha this will be a close game. This fixture is often tight and there’s not much between the sides when they face each other at Villa Park. United managed to rescue a late draw in their last meeting in the Midlands whilst their last win was in December 2009.

As mentioned, Villa have only lost once at home but they have yet to play any of the bigger sides at home. Wins against Norwich, Wigan and Blackburn as well as a couple of draws against Wolves and Newcastle means that they are hard to beat but the big test will come when the current champions visit tomorrow.

United have already seen off the likes of Swansea and Everton in recent weeks, team’s who are often hard to break down when playing at home. It’s likely that they’ll set out in a similar fashion tomorrow by looking to get the goal on the break and keeping things tight at the back. WIth City playing earlier and big favourites to win their match, United will be determined not to drop any further behind and should collect all three points.

My Selection: Mancester United to beat Aston Villa

Best odds available: 3/4 available with William Hill

English Championship

Portsmouth v Coventry City

Our attention turns to the bottom end of the Championship as Coventry travel to Portsmouth with both teams looking for the points to lift them away from the relegation zone.

Michael Appleton took over the Portsmouth job after Steve Cotterill left for Nottingham Forest and it’s fair to say that it his first game could have went better as they lost 2-0 to Watford. His next match was against big spending Leicester at Fratton Park and it was much more encouraging as Pompey took the lead only to have to settle for a share of the points. Now he has a loss and a draw to his name, the natural progression will be for tomorrow’s match to be his victory. He couldn’t ask for a much better chance as Portsmouth have a strong record at home and the opposition tomorrow are on a dire run of form at present. Peterborough and Brighton are still the only two teams to have won at Fratton Park this season. Up until the Leicester match, Pompey had been on a run of three straight victories, all of them comfortable. It’s also worth noting that two of those wins were against the other two sides who sit in the relegation zone – they face the third club tomorrow.

Coventry were previewed a couple of weeks ago and even then it was obvious that they were in the midst of a crisis as they just couldn’t score goals. It’s much of the same as they have still yet to win a match since October, going through the whole month of November without picking up a victory. Their only point last month was a 1-1 draw at home to Cardiff whilst their last away match was a 2-1 loss to Brighton. Andy Thorn is still entrusted with the job of turning things around but you have to wonder how long he will get before the board decide it’s better off in someone elses hands. If they are to end the rot they must do something they haven’t achieved since April – win an away game in the Championship. Funnily enough, their last away win in the Championship was against tomorrow’s opponents. That may provide a source of comfort for the travelling players and fans and at this stage, they need every positive they can get their hands on at the moment.

Pompey are certainly part of the relegaton picture as well as they are only out of the bottom three places on goal difference. With only one win in five things need take to a turn for the better if they wish to climb the table and alleviate some of the pressure which will no doubt be building. Coventry are in deeper trouble however as they are without a win in nine and are seven points adrift of safety.

Portsmouth’s home record swings this for me having seen a couple of Coventry’s recent games. They look toothless upfront and are always liable to concede a goal at the other end. Pompey were unlucky not to collect all three points last week against Leciester who are a much better side than the one they face tomorrow.

My Selection: Portsmouth to beat Coventry City

Best Odds available: 5/6 available with Betfred

Sunday 4th December

Everton v Stoke City

Everton play host to Stoke at Goodison on Sunday with just one point seperating both sides in the league.

Everton are on their best run of the season thus far as it’s the first time they have managed to record back to back victories in the league. It may not be championship winning form but it’s certainly a sign of some sort of consistency being restored to a club who have been severely lacking in it in recent months. Last weekend’s 2-0 win away to Bolton followed on from their home win against Wolves. The late penalty against Mick McCarthy’s men could be one that shape’s the season for the Toffee’s as they looked much better last weekend. Davie Moyes will be hoping that they can kick on from that and boost their league position. It has taken them a wee while to get adapt to the loss of Mikel Arteta, now at Arsenal, but things are coming together and other players are starting to take more responsbility. Having already lost three times at Goodison this season they will be looking to put on a good show for their supporters who have been short changed at times.

Stoke managed the draw they needed to qualify for the next stage of the Europa League against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday night. It’s a magnificent achievement for Tony Pulis and his men as it’s their first season in the compeition. It’s also impressive as they have qualified with a match to spare. As with a lot of clubs who are not used to playing European football, league performances have sometimes suffered and they have found it difficult to balance their midweek matches wit domestic action at the weekend. Everytime Stoke have played a group match in the Europa League, they have lost their next league match. They have been unlucky in the sense that every match that has followed has been away from home but it’s something Pulis will have been tearing his hair out at. The latest example was a 5-0 hammering away to Bolton after a very good win in Israel. The travelling abroad doesn’t seem to be the biggest reason in their domestic defeats as they have lost to Arsenal and Swansea after playing at home in Europe beforehand.

Everton could always rely on Tim Cahill to pop up with a goal when the going got tough but it’s not been the case this season. The midfielder come striker has not scored in the Premier League since the middle of December last year. It’s an incredible record when you consider how many goals he is used to scoring throughout his career. Worryingly for Stoke, however, is that he is getting closer and closer to breaking his duck for the season and it would be a brave man to bet against him doing it before too long.

Stoke will once again freshen things up after their midweek exertions. Peter Crouch is likely to come back in alongside Jon Walters upfront after being rested on Thursday. The two first choice strikers were a thorn in Blackburn’s side last Saturday in the 3-1 success. That was Stoke’s first win in the league since the middle of October. Like Moyes, Pulis will be drilling into his players the importance of consistency in this league.

Everton impressed me last weekend against Bolton and Stoke’s European hangovers speak for themselves. The home win is very tempting in this instance. Another bet I believe is worth a go is for Tim Cahill to finally get off the mark this season. He is getting into all the right positions and is going to take one of the chances sooner rather than later.

My Selections: Everton to beat Stoke at a best priced 3/4 available with PaddyPower
Tim Cahill to score anytime at a best priced 2/1 available with Coral

Aston Villa v Manchester United betting throws up an interesting match, and Villa boss Alex McLeish will be at least hoping for the trend of the Midlands side earning a draw against the Red Devils continue. Villa have drawn their last three home matches against United, but Villa go into this match on the back of a poor stretch of  form which has seen them win just once in their last six league matches. So they definitely need a turn around, and they will be looking to the strike duo of Darren Bent and Gabriel Agbonlahor to earn them at least a point against United. Can Villa break out of their little slump? There’s no better confidence booster than beating Manchester United. But United don’t roll over that easily, and although they have not been playing with any great swagger or style since getting crushed by Manchester City, the Red Devils have been eking out narrow 1-0 wins to keep their title chance going. They were held at Old Trafford against Newcastle last weekend, a disappointing result, fuelled by a dodgy penalty given the Magpies, but United again failed to press on and score more than one goal. They have only scored more than one goal in a league match once in their last eight matches. Not something you see very often from United, but with Wayne Rooney not scoring since September, they are struggling for goals. However, they will look for a big three points away from home in the attempt to keep up the pressure in the Barclays Premier League title race. Aston Villa need three points to help to start fulfilling the ambition that the club has.

Manchester United forward Ashley Young will be facing his former employers on Saturday as he heads back to Villa Park. It is surrounding Young, which online bookmaker Paddy Power have built an Aston Villa v Manchester United betting promotion. If Young, who has two league goals to his name so far this season, scores at any time during the match, then Paddy Power will refund all losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast singles which have been placed on the match. This provides some good coverage for your Aston Villa v Manchester United betting and is worth taking advantage of. With draws becoming a feature of these Villa v United fixtures, a 1-1 Correct Score fetches 6/1 with Paddy Power, while over in the First Goalscorer market, Javier Hernandez, who has scored five of his six goals away from home this season, is priced well at 4/1. So good options for your football betting coverage on this match with the Paddy Power Money Back Special.

Highly rated online bookmaker Paddy Power offer a free £50 bet for new customers as a welcome bonus. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £50, giving you some great free betting cash to enjoy and hopefully make some risk free profit off.

Aston Villa v Manchester United Outright Odds at Paddy Power
Aston Villa 4/1, Draw 5/2, Man Utd 3/4

Aston Villa v Manchester United Betting Tip & Odds: Would fancy United to edge this one. It will be an important three points for United in keeping up their title ambitions, but Villa need a win to turn around a bad patch of form. But United aren’t at their best and yet they keep scraping out 1-0 wins, and when you look at things here, that looks to be a likely result on Saturday between these two. United’s most frequent results away from home this season have been 1-0 wins and 1-1 draws, so that is a big indicator as to where to start looking for your Villa v Man United betting. Therefore we will look at Manchester United -1 Asian Handicap for 6/5 at Bet365.

Aston Villa to win: 4/1 at SkyBet
Draw: 14/5 at Stan James
Manchester United to win: 8/11 at Bet365

EPL Match Preview: Definitely should be an interesting affair at Villa Park on Saturday with United looking to bounce back from a shock Carling Cup exit in midweek. The Red Devils have lost a lot of momentum in terms of showing themselves as an attacking force this season, but they are still plodding along and picking up points. After a disappointing draw against Newcastle last week in the league, United were let off the hook when league leaders Man City could also only manage a draw. As for Aston Villa, they need to pick up some points, because they have hit a pretty rough patch of form where wins are becoming very hard to come by. Villa are an ambitious club which aren’t quite living up to the heights of where they actually want to be, but three home points against the Red Devils would certainly give them a boost of confidence to push on.

Aston Villa Form: After a solid enough start to the new season for boss Alex McLeish, who rattled off a run of seven unbeaten matches with Villa, signs of frailty have crept in. They have lost three of their last six matches now, and are eighth in the league and are unlikely to get any higher this season. They have done alright at home though, with just one defeat at Villa Park. They have won three, drawn two and lost that one at home so far this season. That is a 50% win percentage at home for them. Villa have managed to score at least one goal in each of their last four matches now, with Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent doing pretty well up front for Villa. McLeish’s men are averaging 1.6 goals per match at home this season, but they are conceding on average one goal per match. They could do with tightening up their defence though, as they have kept clean sheets in just two of their six home matches, and their home matches have yielded nearly 70% of all of their points this season. Their best periods in front of goal have come in the middle of each half but 56% of all their goals have come in the second half of matches. They are not too great at getting out in front, which could be the reason why they are struggling to pick up wins, as they have scored first in just 46% of their matches. It generally means that they then have to do a lot of scrapping and chasing for points. Darren Bent and Gabby Agbonlahor both have five league goals for the season, Villa’s real threats up front. There is a bit of a feeling that Villa can get better and McLeish hasn’t gone the boring route which many expected him to after his exploits with Birmingham, and Villa do play some nice open football. Still a work in progress though, but they have decent enough home form to trouble United, who definitely are not at their all powerful best at the moment. They may have ambition, listening to the board, but with just one win in their last six, they are going to need to start putting the points on the board sooner rather than latter. With no goals in their last two matches either, it is hard to see Villa taking three points off United, so a draw at best looks likely for them.

Manchester United Form: Not sure just when Manchester United are going to come out of their shell, or whether they really have the capacity to do so. While they may have rightly felt aggrieved at Newcastle stealing a point at Old Trafford last weekend because of a dubious penalty awarded against Rio Ferdinand, the progress of United has generally been stunted. The defeat against Manchester City really knocked the win out of their impressive early season sails, and three of their last four matches has ended in narrow 1-0 wins in the league. You expect Manchester United to just steam roller teams like Sunderland and Newcastle at home, but they have not been able to. They have looked a very laborious, defensive minded team, scared of suffering a repeat of the Man City humiliation. Wayne Rooney’s goal scoring contributions have totally vanished, not having scored a league goal since their 3-1 home win over Chelsea on September 18th. Since then, remarkably, United have only managed to score more than one goal in a match once since then. Let’s just sum that up, only once in the last eight league matches have United scored more than one goal. That’s something you don’t associate with them, but only Javier Hernandez, who has scored in three of the last four, is carrying any real threat. Their clinical, sweeping forward movements have gone, and United were embarrassed in mid week, when Championship side Crystal Palace beat them at Old Trafford. So a trip to Villa is going to be tricky for Sir Alex Ferguson. Away from home in the league this season, Man Utd have won four, drawn two and have yet to suffer a defeat, so they are in pretty decent shape, if not thoroughly convincing. They are currently on a two match winning streak away from home, and have scored at least one in each of their six away matches this season. So you do expect them to score at least one on Saturday. United are still, as always, at their most dangerous in the final fifteen minutes of matches, and they have scored 53% of their league goals in the second half this season. Worth getting a bet down on them to open the scoring, as they have scored first in 85% of their matches, which is very good. Clearly Wayne Rooney doesn’t know where the goal is at the moment, but he still leads the way with 9 goals for the club, with Hernandez on six behind him. Five of those six for Hernandez have been away from home, so definitely worth a look in your goal scoring betting for the Mexican. Unconvincing in front of goal, not brilliant at the back, but they generally get the job done.

Head to Head: Things are pretty even in the head to head between Villa and United at Villa Park. When the two sides have met in the Midlands, Villa have won 35 of the meetings at Villa Park, while United have scored an impressive 31 wins there, and earned 21 draws. So no real ascendancy for the home club in this fixture, but Villa have proven to be a stubborn side against United in the last few league meetings. Out of the last six league matches between these two, United have won only one, with Villa picking up a win as well in that run of games, leaving four drawn matches out of the last six encounters. Villa have held on for three draws in their last three home league fixtures against United, including last season’s 2-2 draw at Villa Park.

Online Bookmaker Promotion: Manchester United forward Ashley Young will face his former employers this Saturday, and Paddy Power have an Aston Villa v Man Utd betting promotion surrounding him. If Ashley Young scores during the match at any time, then Paddy Power will be paying out lost stake refunds on First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast single bets placed on the match. This is a nice bit of coverage to take advantage of for your football betting. Online bookmaker Paddy Power offer a free £50 bet as a welcome bonus for new customers registering an account. The bookie will match the value of your first stake on a new account, up to the maximum value of £50, giving you some good free betting cash to enjoy.

England and Aston Villa striker Darren Bent heads back to White Hart Lane on Monday night, looking to get one over on his former employees. Villa are steadily plodding along, having pulled themselves up into the top ten in the table ahead of the weekend. Villa have been a bit guilty of drawing far too many matches, not being able to squeeze out those wins for boss Alex McLeish. Still, Villa are a young side and have a lot of growth and room for improvement in them. There is a lot of responsibility on the goal scoring shoulders of Darren Bent, who really didn’t show up last weekend for England against Spain. He was on the pitch but pretty anonymous in isolated positions. Bent, who has five league goals to his name this season, will need to be firing alongside Gabby Agbonlahor, if they are going to come away from White Hart Lane with anything. Villa have scored at least a goal in each of their last eight matches now, but they need to find a way to tighten up at the back, or else Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa betting is likely to go all one way. Spurs have gotten themselves off to a wonderful start to the new Premier League season, and they look again as if they are going to be strong contenders to get into the Champions League again next season. Spurs have lost just once in their last eight league matches, with seven of those being wins. It looks as if Spurs have learned to win ugly with their last win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Spurs have had an all round great team contribution this season with Rafael van der Vaart, Jermain Defoe, Gareth Bale and Emmanuel Adebayor all weighing in with the goals.  Spurs are capable of playing some wonderfully fluent football, and many can argue that they are the best side in London at the moment. So now Spurs will be looking to continue their form with a good home victory in Spurs v Aston Villa betting on Monday night.

Online betting exchange BetFair have a great online promotion running for your Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa betting. If you enjoy a good punt on a multiple, then Betfair have just the football betting ticket for you to enjoy. You need to opt in to this Betfair promotion, which is ex Arsenal full back Lee Dixon’s banker. When you build a football multiple of a fivefold or bigger which has to include Spurs beating Aston Villa, if it is Spurs who are the only ones in your multiple who let you down, then you will get a full stake refund up to £100. So, by taking Spurs as your banker in a fivefold for example, if the other four legs win and Spurs mess the whole bet up by losing, at least you will have some coverage in that you would get your lost stake back as a free bet. You do need to build your accumulator on matches for November 18th to 21st, and you need to get it placed by 8pm GMT on Monday, 21st (which is kick off for your Spurs v Aston Villa betting). So there is good coverage on your football multiple betting here this weekend with Betfair, the highly rated online betting exchange. Betfair offer a free £20 bet plus between £10 and £1000 cash back in a welcome bonus, where the more you bet in the first 30 days of opening your new Betfair account, the bigger your bonus will be! Check out Betfair for more details and great coverage on all of this weekend’s Premier League football betting.

Online bookmaker Bodog are offering a Money Back Special on the Aston Villa v West Brom Midlands derby this week in Premier League betting. Aston Villa had gone unbeaten in the new season under Alex McCleish until they ran into the in-form Manchester City last weekend. As for West Brom, they had a bad start to the season but have just found a little bit of form, going three matches unbeaten in the league. Now the fixture list throws these two Midlands clubs together for some local bragging rights, and with a win, Aston Villa could draw themselves six points clear of their neigbours. With just one defeat on the season and with home advantage here, you would imagine that Aston Villa are going to be the stronger of the two sides, but combined, Villa and the Baggies have draw six of their last twelve matches combined, so a draw seems a likely result. But online bookmaker Bodog will be hoping that there is not a goal fest on the weekend at Villa Park, because if there are four or more goals scored in the game, then the online bookie will refund all losing bets placed on the match. Pretty decent coverage on the Midlands derby in your Premier League betting. Villa are 21/20 favourites, with West Brom at 3/1 to win the match, and a draw trading at 11/5 with Bodog. The online bookmaker offers a free £10 bet as a sign up bonus for new customers, register with Bodog and deposit at least £10 in your new account. Place your first £10 bet at odds of Evens or better and if your stake loses, the bookie will cover your loss. They will give you a free bet to the value of £10 if you don’t manage to land a winner with that first bet.

Sunday 25th September

QPR v Aston Villa

A new look QPR will be hoping to continue their recent good form when they take on Aston Villa at Loftus Road in the Premier League’s only Sunday fixture.

Neil Warnock had to leave it late to bring in the players he both needed and wanted. A lack of commitment from the previous owners held things up in the summer before a takeover in August, since then things have improved both on and off the park. The likes of Joey Barton, Anton Ferdninand and Shaun Wright-Phillips have been brought in and the results have also improved. An impressive performance against Newcastle a couple of weeks back only brought a draw but they got a deserved win with a 3-0 success away to Wolves last Saturday. It does, however, mean that both Rangers’ wins have come on the road so they will be desperate to get that first home win of the season as they need to gather as many points as possible in the early part of the season and make Loftus Road something of a fortress for the second half of the campaign. Barton, who has been made captain of his new side on arrival, has to set an example and with the Sky Sports camera’s at the game tomorrow, many eyes will be on the controversial midfielder.

Villa were always going to be up against it in the early part of the season after a summer of uncertainty and upheaval. With the loss of Ashley Young to Manchester United not enough, there was a massive fuss over the appointment of a new manager with many supporters against the arrival of Alex McLeish from rivals Birmingham. At the best of times, a manager moving across city from your arch nemesis is not going to go down to well but it was even worse considering he had just overseen the Blue’s being relegated. After the soap opera, McLeish got the job and has gone about his business quietly. Everything seemed to be going alright until Tuesday when a 2-0 loss to Bolton at home in the league cup prompted boo’s from the crowd and led McLeish to have a ‘chat’ with his senior players. Villa are still unbeaten in the league after five matches but they have only won once and with all things considered, their start has not been the hardest with games against the lesser lights of the division thus far. McLeish has a repuation for playing negative football and it doesn’t look as though he will change his ways in the new job at Villa Park.

Both of these clubs are on the same number of points heading into tomorrow’s fixture so it promises to be a hard fought match. QPR will be expected to attack infront of their home crowd and do have a more attractive style of play expansive options going forward. It may well suit Villa who can play on the counter-attack with the likes of Charles N’Zogbia, Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent all quick and direct.

The first goal, as ever, will be all important. If QPR manage to get it then I would be confident of them going on to control the match as I have my doubts that the Villa midfield are capable of dominating a match – they are built to soak up pressure as opposed to controlling the tempo of the game. Rangers’ impressed last Saturday and a will be raring to go infront of their own fans. I fancy them to get the better of McLeish’s men.

My Selection: QPR to beat Aston Villa

Best Odds available: 13/10 available with Totesport

The Club:
There is a feel that Aston Villa may be able to start with a breath of fresh air this season. It was a very difficult season last year both on and off the pitch, and bringing in Alex McLeish to replace Gerard Houllier was perhaps not the smartest bit of business which the club could have done. The club really look as if they could go either way in Aston Villa Premier League Betting. With a couple more players and an attacking ethos, they could push on hard for another top half finish, but equally with a couple of injuries they look fragile enough to be drawn into a relegation battle quickly. The one thing helping Aston Villa and new boss McLeish, is that they have one of the easiest starts to the Premier League season of all clubs. They will have navigated their way through eleven matches with having faced only one of the top six teams from last year. So early points will be crucial for the club.

Players/Manager:
The experience which Gerard Houllier was supposed to bring last season didn’t quite marry too well with the crop of young players. There was also the problem with Houllier’s health which didn’t help, but in the end, and there is a big question over the fit of new boss Alex McLeish. What is working in Aston Villa’s favour is that they are a good young side, and they just need some nurturing. That is all. There was a big furore when former Birmingham boss Alex McLeish decided to take the short move across the city to take over at Villa Park. It wasn’t a popular move. Now, McLeish is experienced and can assemble a good future for Villa given patience by the board and fans, but he is not exactly an exponent of pretty football. Quite he opposite in fact. One of the things which hurt them year was a lack of punch going forward. Their approach work was quite good at times, as they used width well with the likes of Ashley Young (who has moved on to Manchester United), but there wasn’t enough clinical power up front. To try and solve that they have brought in Charles N’Zogbia from Wigan on a five year deal to give them a better target up front. The club have also brought in Shay Given to give some stability between the sticks as well, but the have seen the departure of Stewart Downing who moved north to Liverpool. Aston Villa are a work in progress and that has to be appreciated by fans. They picked themselves up towards the end of last season and that should be something better to build upon. It will depend on the nature of McLeish and how he approaches this. He can’t be too defensive and suck the natural talent out of this side.

Last Season: 9th
Aston Villa suffered a long season last year, looking as if they were relegation candidates at one stage, because they just couldn’t get things together. They did very well to pull themselves up to ninth in the table at the end of the day, including a triumphant season end with victory over Liverpool. Villa only suffered one defeat in their last eight matches, which points to them being a lot better this season. They need a solid start, one which gives them a platform to build on, and their young players will have had that little bit more experience under their belt. They suffered a lot of injury problems last year as well, which forced their young players into action and they grew in stature over time. Definitely need to tighten up at the back, that is the main area which needs to be addressed as they were far too leaky there.

2011/12 Aston Villa Premier League Betting Projection:
You will expect Alex McLeish to figure something out in terms of making Villa a better defensive unit, as he is known for his somewhat stifling, defensive tactics. We are uncertain as to what kind of fit that McLeish really is going to be here. He did get Birmingham relegated twice in three years, and so naturally Villa fans are going to be worried by a lack of adventure. Villa’s defence is really not that great, and McLeish will probably try and compensate for that with formation and going just one up top. That’s going to be dangerous ground to be treading, as Villa fans need to be impressed. They do have Darren Bent up front and really need to feed him. There is potential there, but certainly nothing higher than a mid table finish. Not with McLeish in charge. The Scot has tried to be adventurous in pre season friendly matches but that is going to count to nothing when backs are against the wall in the Premier where it counts.

Finishing Position: Bottom Half of Table

Relegation Odds:
20/1 at SkyBet

First Three Fixtures
August 13th: Fulham v Aston Villa
August 20th: Aston Villa v Blackburn
August 22nd: Aston Villa v Wolves

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The doors of opportunity could really be opening up for Manchester City in the FA Cup. They will have seen the likely quarter final clash on the cards between Manchester United and Arsenal, and see that one of the main obstacles in their way will be falling out of the competition. This means that City could well be worth taking for an Outright Winner right now before all of that happens and they are best priced at 4/1 with William Hill to do so. City have a few injury problems keeping Mancini from selecting a full strength side, but they should have enough to win this one at Eastlands. City again showed on the weekend, why they are not yet Premier League title winners, with a thoroughly laborious performance against Fulham which ended in a draw, and pretty much blew their chances of winning the league. Manchester City just looked as if they were generally lacking the desire and enthusiasm to inject any kind of pace into a match which they should have won, especially after a great opener for them from Mario Balotelli. Anyway, while Aston Villa are a side which are finally beginning to improve under Gerard Houllier, the Villains will still be underdogs in the match. Mancini needs to light a rock behind his side, because when they get going, they can easily win games. There is still too much caution in the side to be truly great, but with the defensive unit they have, they should be able to keep Villa at bay. Even with the likes of David Silva (who may return) and Adam Johnson on the sidelines, City should be able to create enough to squeeze through here. Workmanlike performances could just be the key to City gaining big success in the FA Cup this year. Not too much whiff of an upset here, so would happily plump for a Manchester City -1 Asian Handicap for 6/5 at Bet365, the split on the stake should mean it is relatively risk free as City should win.

Manchester City to win: 4/6 at Bet365
Draw: 14/5 at Totesport
Aston Villa to win: 5/1 at Victor Chandler