Aston Villa v Man City: Injury-hit hosts vulnerable to a hiding

Villa Park is fast becoming a fruitless tree for Aston Villa in the Premier League and with rampant Manchester City in town, it could be a lengthy afternoon for those of a claret and blue persuasion.

All the ingredients here suggest Aston Villa will struggle to cope with a Man City side who have just scored 12 goals across their last three games in all competitions – making the Man City win at 8/15, solid-looking accumulator material.

Alongside bottom club Sunderland, Paul Lambert’s side are the only Premier League outfit not to have picked up a single point at home yet this season and have now suffered nine defeats in their last 13 league games at Villa Park.

A massive problem is their inability to keep clean sheets; they haven’t managed to keep one during that run of home games mentioned above.

So when you consider the injuries to first-choice centre-back Jores Okore and Ashley Westwood, the case for City ransacking the hosts only grows stronger.

Although City have only left as 1-0 winners from their last two Premier League visits, they’ve bagged 11 goals across three of the last five encounters in all competitions with Villa – so the 21/20 on 2/3 City goals is worth a crack, though 4+ goals at 9/2 is far more exciting.

Meanwhile, the Man City win to nil at 31/20 with Ladbrokes – something they have done on their last two league visits – is even more tempting, considering Aston Villa’s main goal threat Christian Benteke remains sidelined.

Five of Manuel Pellegrini’s first seven games in charge have now returned a clean sheet also, so the 6/5 on another one stands out as well.

It’s definitely worth noting that all five of City’s away goals in all competitions so far have arrived after the break, so 13/10 on more of their goals coming in the second-half is another tempter.

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

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