Aston Villa v Sunderland: Hosts primed for a win to nil

There are a few Jekyll and Hyde sides in the Premier League this season with Man City’s storming home form being constantly undermined by their fallibility away perhaps the most obvious of them, but Gus Poyet’s Sunderland are no different.

Since the Uruguayan replaced Paolo Di Canio in the Black Cats dugout, six games have passed in all competitions. Three have been won, all at the Stadium of Light, and three lost. It means that the glimmer of optimism for the club’s survival chances that each win provides is extinguished quicker than a fire at the Royal Mint.

With their away form a real problem – Sunderland are winless on their travels in the league this season, have lost five in a row and are scoreless in four – a trip to Aston Villa is actually far from the ideal tonic, no matter how even public perception indicates the match might be.

A quick look at the home form of Paul Lambert’s side shows just two wins from their six games, hardly enough to have the Mackems trembling in their boots you’d think. But, five of those games have been against sides in the top half of the table and in their one clash against a club from below the fold they won to nil.

So, rather than taking your chances in the match betting market, where Aston Villa are 10/11 to win, the draw is 12/5 and Sunderland are a weighty 3/1, it’d be far wiser to head over to the win to nil section of Ladbrokes and add the 21/10 on Villa prevailing without conceding to the betslip.

Or, if you’re fancy is more of a goalscorer persuasion, why not try the 1/1 on Christian Benteke ending his five-goal drought at anytime. After all, he did bang in a hat-trick during a 6-1 annihilation in this fixture last season.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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