Monday Night Football
Two teams with top four ambitions meet tonight when Aston Villa host Manchester City in an English Premier League fixture.
A win for Villa tonight would see them join Manchester City on 15 points, while three points for Manchester City would see them climb up to third place in the Premier League.
Both teams come into the match tonight in good form. Aston Villa have only lost once in their last seven games in all competitions, while Manchester City have only tasted defeat once in their last 8 matches in all competitions.
It’s likely that Villa fans will give ex skipper Gareth Barry a hot reception on his return to the club for the first time since his summer move to City. It would be no surprise if he were to pop up on the score sheet against his old team and if you fancy him to do just that, he is priced at 16/1 (Bet365) to be first goalscorer and 6/1 (Paddypower) to score anytime.
With Manchester City having scored in every Premiership games so far this season and Villa only failing to score on the opening day of the season there does appear to be a case for believing there will be goals in the match tonight.. A bet on both teams to score in tonight’s match at 4/5 (Ladbrokes) appears to be a bet that could bring some winnings.
In the last 10 league meetings between the two sides Manchester City have won 7 drawn 1 and lost just 2. It has to be noted though that over the last couple of seasons the results are pretty even with both teams managing two wins and one draw, so the stats might not be as clear cut as they first might look.
A fascinating match looks to be in prospect with there looking to be very little between the two teams. The bookmakers also appear to be having trouble splitting the teams with both quoted at 13/8 (Ladbrokes) to win the match.
A bet we think could be worth considering tonight is the Half time/full time bet of Draw/Draw at odds of 4/1 (Coral).
Our prediction for the match tonight is a draw 12/5 (Skybet) and a bet on a 1-1 scoreline 11/2 (Ladbrokes) is recommended.
Gareth Barry does look worth considering to score anytime as we have already mentioned and Craig Bellamy 7/1 (Coral) and Gabriel Agbonlahor 13/2 (Skybet) are another two options we believe could be worthwhile backing to be first goalscorer.