Aston Villa v Man United Recommended Bet:
United have the opportunity to open a four point lead at the top of the table this weekend, at least until Sunday. The Red Devils hold a one point lead over Chelsea and with Sunday’s big matches, this is a chance which United should seize. With their good record against Villa, the bookies are suggesting that this is going to be a formality for the away side here. It has been a long stretch of games now since Aston Villa got the better of United and while the Midlands side stopped their run of five league matches without a win last weekend, it looks unlikely that they will have enough to stop the might of Manchester United.
The goals have just been flying in from the Red Devils, averaging 2.6 goals per game and have netted 18 times more than Villa have this season. Villa have not even broken into double figures yet in the goal-scoring department this season. Villa have beaten the Red Devils just once in the last 33 meetings, losing 23 of them and United are unbeaten in the last sixteen visits to Villa Park. The scoring power that United have is again going to be the trump card for them. The last four times when Wayne Rooney has scored against Villa he has scored a brace. Throw the contributions of Robin van Persie on top of that and there should be goals in this one. 90% of United’s league games this season have gone over 2.5 goals, that doesn’t look likely to change. But would look at a Man United -1.25 Asian Handicap for a price of 11/10 at online bookmaker Paddy Power.
Aston Villa v Team Betting Odds at online bookmaker Paddy Power
Man United 1/2, Draw 10/30, Aston villa 11/2
Form
Aston Villa DLLDWW, Man United WWWDWW
Stat Attack
Villa have not won just one of the last 33 matches against United
United are on a run of 16 matches unbeaten at Villa Park
Villa have failed to score in 11 of 16 Premier League matches against United at home
Villa have opened the scoring in three of the last five meetings at Villa Park
Online bookmaker Promotion
There is some good football accumulator betting coverage at online bookmaker Paddy Power for Saturday’s matches. Place a five fold accumulator on the Premier League and NPower Championship matches and if just one of the legs let you down, then the bookie will refund your lost stake as a free bet. Online bookmaker Paddy Power offer a free £50 bet for new customers registering an account with them. The bookie will match the value of your first deposit on a new account with a free bet.
Aston Villa v Man United Betting Preview
Paul Lambert’s Villa secured their first away win of the season last weekend when they won away at Sunderland. That was only their second win of the season, but they have been scraping together points at home this terms, winning one, losing one and drawing two. They just have a terrible record against the Red Devils in the Premier League and their poor run continued with a 1-0 defeat last season in this fixture. Strangely Villa have opened the scoring in three of the last five meetings at Villa Park against United, but were pegged back on all occasions. Is the Villa defence tight enough to keep out United? They are conceding at a rate of 1.25 goals per game at home (the same as their own scoring stat) and that may not be enough to stand up. Just once this season have Villa scored more than one goal in a league game. Only Steven Gerrard has scored more goals against United since the start of the 2006/07 season than Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Robin van Persie’s eight league goals this season is the same amount as Aston Villa have managed as a collective. So there is a clear imbalance here and even with United playing Champions League football this week, it shouldn’t affect the outcome of this. The stats are just all in favour of the visitors here, and they have conceded a goal in eleven of their sixteen Premier League matches at Villa Park, which is pretty remarkable. United are tanking along at the moment, home and away. They have won the last four league games on the bounce, scoring a total of twelve goals in that period. They aren’t the tightest side at the back at all, but that doesn’t seem to matter because of their potency going forward. They’ll probably have far too much for Villa.
