Aston Villa vs West Brom Prediction, Preview, Team News and Betting Tips
Aston Villa vs West Brom Premier League
The weekend concludes with a cracker as Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion clash in the 22nd Premier League (PL) West Midlands derby, and it’s a fixture that’s been dominated historically by Villa (W8, D9, L4). They’ve gone from heroes to ‘Villains’ recently though, after managing just one win in seven (W1, D2, L4) despite scoring first in each of their previous two matches.
It’s also just one win in Villa’s previous five PL home games (W1, D1, L3), and that lone victory (3-1 vs Fulham) was the only one in which they’d rescued any home points after conceding first this season. Additionally, since their top-flight return, no goals were scored before HT in three of Villa’s four PL home games vs promoted teams.
‘Big’ Sam Allardyce’s record of never being relegated is under threat following WBA’s demoralizing 3-0 defeat last time out, which came on the back of scoring eight goals in the two matches prior (W2). History is against the ‘Baggies’ here as they have failed to win 16 of their last 17 Sunday PL games (W1, D5, L11).
WBA have conceded first in a joint league-high 12 away games ahead of the round (75%), and have won just six points after doing so (W1, D3, L8). Compounding matters further, they’ve also failed to score in four of their previous five away matches. Additionally, Allardyce-managed sides haven’t drawn in five away league H2Hs with Villa (W3, L2) – four saw one side score and under 2.5 goals.
Players to score: Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi has scored more goals against WBA than any other side (four goals in four appearances), however, all came away from Villa Park. As for WBA, Matheus Pereira has averaged 1.7 shots per game and bagged three first-half goals across his last three PL appearances.
Hot stat: WBA have received a red card in the last three competitive H2Hs, and averaged 2.0 yellow cards per game across the last six.
Prediction: Aston Villa [1] vs [1] West Brom