Aston Villa v Wolves

This must arguably be one of the most important meetings between these huge rivals for many a long year, as the title race enters the final furlong. If Villa could win this one, they would close the gap to Wolves to seven points, and surely open the door for Cardiff to make a move on the title leaders, while a win for the visitors would see them move back into a commanding lead at the top. In our view, there is just too much at stake in this game for either of those outcomes to occur, and instead we’ll be looking at the draw to provide the value here.

The first thing in our favour is the intense rivalry between these two. Neither set of fans would be happy to come away as the loser here, and that has to rub off on the players to some extent. Loss aversion will be in effect, with the trailing side sure to bust a gut to get back into the game following the opening goal.

The team news sees Villa approach this game without striker Jonathan Kodjia once again, although he is back in training at least, while Glenn Whelan is also expected to iss out along with Alan Huton and Axel Tuanzebe.

For Wolves, Ruben Neves is expected to return to the side following his suspension, but Bright Enobakhare is unlikely to make it.

The sides are also extremely closely matched right now. While Wolves have set the standard this season, Steve Bruce’s Villa have won seven of their last nine and will definitely fancy their chances of keeping things close here. The ease with which they have been scoring (13 in their last 6) should also concern Wolves, and as a result they are likely to try to line-up someway short of entirely positive.

With six draws already at Villa Park this campaign, it would be hard to bet against another, so we’ll take a small stake at the 9/4 on offer with Unibet in this one.

1pt Aston Villa to draw with Wolves at 9/4

#Football