English Premiership 2009/2010

Aston Villa V Manchester City

Kick-off: Monday 5^th October – 20:00 GMT

Venue: Villa Park

TV Coverage: ESPN

Aston Villa

League Position: 7th

Recent Form: WWWWL

Villa’s superb run of four straight wins was destroyed by a Blackburn side who defied the numbers to record a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa last weekend, despite Rovers being reduced to 10 men midway through the second half. Richard Dunne will have to take the full brunt of the blame as his handball gifted Blackburn the opportunity to go ahead from the spot, and Blackburn’s David Dunn duly accepted. Now Martin O”Neill must get his squad of youthful and exuberant players back on the winning track again, but the arrival of a free-spending Manchester City does present the best of opportunities for Villa to do just that.

Villa haven’t had that much luck in recent games with man City, and, what with City now competing with Villa for a top six finish, it’s imperative that Villa send out a message of intent to the rich challengers by beating City at Villa Park. Martin O’Neill certainly posses the players capable of beating a side like City, and let’s not forget that they do already have the scalp of Liverpool, a side still a lot better than Man City, in our honest yet brutal opinion. However, with Villa it’s always been a case of consistency or a lack of it in their case, with the Clarets generally putting in a good display one week and a dire one the next. They are what we punters like to call – an accumulator nightmare.

Martin O’Neill cannot afford to take the cautious approach to this game as Villa need all three points if they want to keep up with the leading pack. The likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor, John Carew, Ashley Young and captain James Milner, will need to put in one of the biggest shifts of their career as a win over City would send out a message to everyone that they mean business this season, despite their most recent setback. However, to achieve this they will need to attack City right from the off, using the pace of Milner & Young down the wings to supply their strong forwards with plenty of chances. Villa’s biggest goal threat lies in their wingers and both James Milner & Ashley Young will need to put in a man of the match display for Villa to prosper here.

Manchester City

League Position: 4th

Recent Form: WWWLW

It didn’t take City long before they were back doing what they’ve found so easy this season, and that’s winning games. A brace from Tevez and a fine strike from Martin Petrov was enough to give City all three points as the richest club in the land made an instant return to winning ways, defeating West Ham 3-1 on Monday night. That was their fifth win of the season and they now go level on points with Liverpool & Tottenham Hotspur in fifth, albeit with a game in hand over the pair.

The win was just what the doctor ordered after their somewhat unfortunate defeat away at Manchester the week before. However, City didn’t show no signs of self pity as they got straight back down to work at home to West Ham, who did cause City a few problems at times, albeit in small patches of the game.

All in all, City dominated proceedings against West Ham, with the City midfield and defence keeping West Ham’s attacks at arms length throughout most of the game. However, a big plus point from that game was their ability to carve open the West Ham defence, even without their star forward; Emmanuel Adebayor. He will still miss out as he serves his three match ban, this being his last game of the ban, but Roque Santa Cruz could play a part as aims to get some more vital match minutes under his belt after he made a late substitute appearance on Monday night.

It’s vital that Man City notch up another victory as they aim to keep up with the leading contenders at the top of the pile. However, a trip to Villa Park is always a tough affair, regardless of City’s past fortunes at this venue. Mark Hughes must guard against complacency as any silly mistakes, like the one that gave Carlton Cole the opening to score on Monday, will get punished by Aston Villa. They will need Sean Wright-Philips to continue his pacey runs down the right, Carlos Tevez needs to carry on his form which seen him score twice against West Ham in his last outing, while Craig Bellamy needs another big shift just behind the little Argentinian, if Man City are to achieve the right result at Villa Park – the win!

Head-to-Head:

Aston Villa W: 2 Manchester City W: 6 Draws: 2

As you can see, City have enjoyed the vast amounts of fortunes in recent contests between the two. However, although Villa did win the last meeting at Villa Park, winning 4-2, Martin O’Neill’s side hadn’t won any of the previous eight meetings at Villa Park beforehand. City’s last success at Villa Park came two season ago when they beat Villa 3-1, will they secure another stunning result on Monday?

Over 2.5 Goals: 5 Under 2.5 Goals: 5

The goal count is split straight down the middle but, with both sides possessing some extremely talented forwards this season, we expect this game to end in a fair few goals. The last meeting at Villa Park ended in a 4-2 victory for the home side, although, three of the last five encounters at Villa have finished Under 2.5.

Match Verdict: Aston Villa to WIN – 8/5 Bet365

This may sound like a bold prediction but it’s hard to see Villa not getting fired up for this clash as City are one of their main competitors this season. O’Neill will need a huge performance from a whole host of his key players but we expect their youthful wingers; Ashley Young & James Milner, to be the match winners for Villa here as their pace and trickery down the flanks might be too much for City to handle. Also, we mustn’t forget that Emmanuel Adebayor, a player who has scored in each league outing this season, is now available and he will be a big aerial asset for Mark Hughes in this game, the Togo international has scored in every Premiership outing thus far. Villa to nip a corker of a match for us.

Match Odds:

Aston Villa – 8/5 Bet365

Manchester City – 7/4 SkyBet

Draw – 12/5 SkyBet

SoccerBetting Tip: Over 2.5 Goals – Evens Bet365