Watford v Aston Villa betting tips: Smith side favoured to beat newcomers
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Watford v Villa betting tips and odds
Watford are back in the Premier League after just one season in the Championship and are 9/4 to beat Aston Villa in their opening game.
The Hornets are evens to be relegated, 7/2 to finish bottom of the table and Xisco Munoz has already been installed as the 5/1 favourite to become the first managerial casualty.
The fixture list has been kind to them for the first half-a-dozen games so let’s examine the markets and odds in our Watford v Villa betting tips.
Match Odds
Munoz was appointed Watford manager in December as a replacement for the sacked Vladimir Ivic and 19 wins from 26 games in charge helped them finish runners-up to champions Norwich, the team they beat twice during that spell.
Watford have brought in plenty of fresh blood for their return to the top flight, including the £9million signing of central midfielder Imran Louza from Nantes and £3.6m striker Emmanuel Dennis from Brugge, but the more familiar names are Danny Rose, Josh King and Ashley Young whose deals at Tottenham, Everton and Inter Milan respectively had expired.
Villa have seen plenty of comings and goings, the most significant of which saw Jack Grealish join Manchester City for a British record £100million, but they have signed Southampton striker Danny Ings for £25m, Jamaican winger Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen for £30m, playmaker Emi Buendia from Norwich and defender Axel Tuanzebe on loan from Manchester United.
💬 “It was my dream to play in the Premier League. I’ll always give my maximum on the pitch. I always fight for the team and my teammates.”
Juraj Kucka is ready to battle 👊
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) August 9, 2021
Dean Smith’s men were challenging for the Champions League spots at one stage but an injury to Grealish meant they finished in 11th place. They are 11/10 for a top-half finish this season.
The teams met in the Premier League two seasons ago with Watford winning this fixture 3-0 and they are 24/5 to win to nil again bearing in mind they kept a Championship-high 23 clean sheets from their 46 games last season.
Villa are a cut above the sides Watford faced last season, though, and a victory for the visitors and both teams to score appears more likely at 13/4.
The visitors are also 6/5 favourites to win and a draw is 9/4 in our Watford v Villa betting tips.
Talking Tactics
Villa ended the season with wins against Tottenham and Chelsea, so Smith is likely to keep faith with a 4-2-3-1 formation in which Ollie Watkins spearheads the attack.
Buendia is expected to take the right midfield role so Bertrand Traore is unlikely to get as much game time as last season.
Colombian striker Cucho Hernandez could play a major role for the Hornets in a 4-3-3 formation having spent his first four seasons on loan at Spanish clubs Huesca, Mallorca and Getafe, scoring twice in 18 appearances for the latter in La Liga.
Goalscorer Odds
Ings scored in the final warm-up of the season, a 3-1 win against Salernitana, and the former Southampton striker is 7/2 to get the ball rolling, with Ollie Watkins priced at 9/2.
Anwar El Ghazi scored from the penalty spot in that game and is 11/2 to draw first blood or 23/10 to get on the scoresheet, while Buendia is 13/2 and 13/5 in both markets.
Watford won just one of their five pre-season friendlies, with Troy Deeney the favourite to get he ball rolling at 11/2 or 9/4 to score any time.
Match Info
Where: Vicarage Road
When: 15:00, Saturday 14th August
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
