The Premier League weekend kicks off on Friday night this week and it does so at Villa Park where Aston Villa take on Leeds United as two sides at the wrong end of the table will look to boost their position in the standings.
Both teams are in the bottom half of the table heading into the contest but Villa have the luxury of being a few places ahead of Leeds. This feels like a big match for Leeds having not really got going since the World Cup break.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels with the build-up beginning at 7pm and the kick off at Villa Park coming at 8pm.
Aston Villa
I think most judges expected Aston Villa to fly a little bit once Unai Emery took over but it hasn’t really happened since the international break. They had a good win at Aston Villa but that remains their only win since the World Cup and they head into this one having lost out to League 2 Stevenage in the cup last week despite not really making wholesale changes. That would be something of a concern heading into this one.
After losing last week Villa have nothing to do but concentrate on the league so they have no excuse for not being at their best in this match. You get the feeling that Emery isn’t completely happy with his squad though and we might need the rest of the month for him to move and shake in the transfer market. The one thing Emery isn’t short of is attacking options, he just needs to work out the best combination. The defence leaves plenty to be desired though.
Leeds United
To be fair to Leeds United, they haven’t had the easiest return to action in terms of the opposition that they have faced but they would have been disappointed not to beat West Ham United in their latest league game. You have to win your home matches against teams around you in the table when you are in a relegation battle and that was a chance missed. They followed that up with a draw in the cup where Jesse Marsch surprisingly rested a load of players rather than put his first team out and get a confidence boosting win.
Leeds don’t have a problem scoring goals. They have a real issue keeping them out of their net though and that is the task at hand both here and over the remainder of the season. They have already made moves in the market to look to rectify their defensive issues and if they can start to shore things up without losing any of the fluidity with which they attack then they should be fine. This feels like another chance for them to pick up some points.
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Team News
Aston Villa are waiting to see if the paperwork for new signing Alex Moreno has been completed in time for him to be available here. John McGinn misses out with injury while Leander Dendoncker is suspended after his red card in the cup. Matty Cash will have to pass a fitness test.
Leeds United are going to be without Crysencio Summerville who picked up an ankle injury in the draw in the cup on Sunday. They do have Patrick Bamford back from injury and new signing Max Wober will be hoping to make his first start.
Betting
These two teams don’t like each other. There has been a rivalry which has built since a weird goal was scored in a meeting between them in the Championship. The reverse meeting between these two was on TV and I tipped up the bookings that day and they flew in and I expect them to here too. Leeds matches rarely need much to light the touch paper anyway and I would imagine Aston Villa will be out for a reaction from their humiliation last week.
Michael Oliver is the referee and he is no stranger to bringing the cards out of his pocket. There were seven yellow cards and a red card in that reverse meeting between the two in what was otherwise a dull 0-0 draw. You can get a booking points line for this one of 40.5 which means we are looking at five yellow cards or a couple of yellows and a red card. Villa just had a man dismissed against Stevenage and Leeds are no strangers to men exiting early. I’ll play the over for the second time this season between these two.
Tips
Back Over 40.5 booking points for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with Boylesports
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