Aston Villa v Man City: Big Eck to hush protesters with priceless point
Published:Some Aston Villa fans are planning a protest against Alex McLeish’s running of the club prior to Sunday’s televised clash with Manchester City – in which they are 9/2 to win – but might regret their haste come the final whistle…
Match odds
Aston Villa have been having a dismal time of it in front of their diminishing and increasingly hostile home crowd recently, going six games without a win, however things are improving, with four losses followed by draws with Everton and QPR.
And just as Villa are starting to warm to the role as hosts again, their latest visitors Manchester City have been suffering from a bit of travel sickness, triumphing in only two of their last nine on the road, their sole success in six coming at Wigan.
Their record at Villa Park does little to encourage faith in their ability to justify odds of 8/13, with no victories achieved in four trips down there and two defeats to show for their last three, including one last season when Darren Bent scored.
Villa’s home form isn’t convincing enough to back them with confidence at 9/2, but they have demonstrated a knack for troubling the top teams lately – winning at Chelsea and going 2-0 up at Arsenal – so the draw definitely appeals at 5/2.
Other markets
Manchester City remain the most prolific side in the Premier League this term, though the goals have dried up dramatically in recent away matches, with their last four featuring a combined three.
Most remarkably, they have failed to strike in three of those, having found the net in every other top-flight fixture, so under 2.5 goals looks the way to go at 10/11, with any 1-1 correct score bets (6/1) worth supplementing with 0-0 at 9/1.
