Manchester City vs Aston Villa: Hard to look past home win
Published:Manchester City have been virtually unbeatable at home in recent times and there is no reason to suggest that they will not take another three points against Aston Villa, despite the visitors still being unbeaten in the Premier League under Alex McLeish.
Roberto Mancini has turned Eastlands into a bit of a Premier League fortress, with Manchester City winning 12 of their last 13 fixtures at home.
Meanwhile, Eastlands has not proved a happy hunting ground for Aston Villa in the last few seasons as they have lost on all of their last five visits in all competitions.
Based on this, a Manchester City victory looks almost a banker and can be backed at 4/11 in the Premier League odds.
However, Villa are made of stern stuff and their mix of pace on the counter attack and impressive last-ditch defending has proved a valuable mix.
Villa have lost just one of their last 15 Premier League games spread across the last two seasons and have avoided defeat in their last four on the road.
But this could be considered their first real test of the campaign, having mainly faced teams likely to finish in the bottom half of the final standings thus far.
Therefore, although it is unlikely that they will beat Manchester City, it would not be a massive shock if they left with a point, especially with Shay Given feeling he has a point to prove in goal against his former club.
It is 8/1 that Aston Villa claim a shock success, while the draw can be backed at 7/2.
Aside from the match betting, one of the other best betting opportunities of the fixture relate to Manchester City keeping a clean sheet, despite the strong start to the season of Gabriel Agbonlahor and the predatory instincts of Darren Bent.
Manchester City have kept ten clean sheets in their last 13 home games and shut out Villa on four of their last five visits to Eastlands.
It is 1/1 that Manchester City keep another clean sheet and 6/5 that they beat Villa to nil.
