Tuesday 19th September 2017 Kickoff:1945hrs Aston Villa v Middlesbrough Football – England – League Cup The League Cup draw has pitted the two big spending clubs from the Championship together as Aston Villa host Middlesbrough for a place in the next round. The two have already faced each other in the league this season in a forgettable game which ended goalless just last week. This one will of course be played to a finish and it’s an opportunity for one of the teams to restore some much needed positivity in what has been a frustrating year.
Many, including myself, expected Villa to hit the ground running this season on the back of Steve Bruce having a few months to assemble a squad he felt capable of getting out the Championship. It has been a stuttering beginning, though, with wins proving hard to come by. Saturday’s 3-0 victory away to Barnsley was just their second in the league all season and Bruce will hope it’s a catalyst as they attempt to climb into the recognition for automatic promotion. To their credit, they’ve only lost two games from the 10 they have played in all competitions so there’s certainly something there to build on. Their form in the League Cup has been good with a 2-1 win away to Colchester followed by a resounding 4-1 success at home to Wigan in the last round, a repeat of that tomorrow would be most welcome for Bruce and his players.
Gary Monk enjoyed success in this competition as a player when captain of Swansea and although that seems a long way off at the moment with his Middlesbrough side, he will know the benefits a good cup run has on a team. His players certainly showed they had spirit in abundance at the weekend when rallying from 1-0 and 2-1 down to record a much needed win at home to QPR. Like their opponents on Tuesday, ‘Boro have lost twice in the league and have not been as impressive as one might expect from a club who twice broke their record transfer fee in the summer. That said, they are in a healthy enough position as they sit only three points off of top spot. Due to the nature of the draw, they have only had to play one game to get to this stage and they wasted little time in disposing of Scunthorpe 3-0 at the Riverside.
Aston Villa v Middlesbrough Betting Tip
Although promotion to the Premier League is without doubt the main aim of both Villa and ‘Boro, there squads are packed full of talent so this type of game should not inconvenience their league business too much. Bruce and Monk will look to use those squads and the likelihood is they will try to get the win in 90 minutes to prevent any unnecessary extra time with important games ahead. Villa certainly had the best of the game last week and only some poor finishing and an excellent rearguard action from the away team prevented the hosts taking the three points. Bruce’s men found their scoring touch at the weekend however and I envisage them continuing that on Tuesday and making home advantage count to progress.
Aston Villa 7/5 @ Bet365
