English Premier
2011-11-05 - Aston Villa vs Norwich City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 5 November 2011 - Kickoff 3pm
Aston Villa
Aston Villa have really struggled to get used to the ideas that Alex McLeish wants to employ at Villa Park and that has shown in their results as the defensive side of things have improved, but the attack is failing to score enough goals to win games. The home crowd have not turned on the manager just yet, but they will need to start winning if they want the fans to stay on board.
Villa are 9th in the Premier League and have picked up 12 points this season, but it is telling that more than half of their games have ended in draws. They are 2-2-1 at Villa Park this season, scoring 7 goals and conceding 4, but they haven't exactly had a tough schedule to negotiate so far.
Aston Villa have won just 1 of their last 9 games in all competitions and were beaten here 1-2 by West Brom last time out. They have also won just 1 of their last 5 games at Villa Park, with the likes of Newcastle, Wolves, Bolton Wanderers and West Brom all avoiding defeat or actually winning here.
Villa have only kept 1 clean sheet in their last 4 home games, that coming in the game they won against Wigan.
Alex McLeish has a full squad to choose from for this game.
Norwich City
Norwich City have made a fine start to life in the Premier League and Paul Lambert has to be given full credit for the job he has done at Carrow Road over the last couple of seasons. The Canaries like getting the ball down and playing football so they are attractive to watch, and they are also getting rewards for their attacking enterprise.
Norwich sit one place above Aston Villa in 8th place in the Premier League and they have earned 13 points so far this season. They have a decent 1-2-2 away record, scoring 5 goals and conceding 8, considering they have played at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and Anfield amongst those games.
The team have lost just 1 of their last 6 games, that coming against Manchester United in a game they could have won with the amount of chances they created before falling 1 goal behind. Norwich have lost just 1 of their last 3 games away from home, and they have also avoided defeat when playing at lesser clubs like Wigan and Bolton.
Elliot Ward, Zak Whitbread and Daniel Ayala are hoping to be passed fit for this game and reinforce the Norwich defensive options. James Vaughan is the only long-term absentee in the squad.
Head to Head
Aston Villa beat Norwich 3-0 at home when they last met in the 2004/05 season.
The previous 4 League meetings between the teams had all ended in draws although most of those came back in the mid-90s.
Prediction
I have said before that I don't believe Aston Villa have the right to be classed as an odds-on favourite to beat anybody considering their struggles so far this season to convert their draws into wins.
Norwich City have the capabilities to take advantage of any uncertainty the home team feel and they could help build the tensions as the home crowd get restless. They have shown no fear in getting forward at places like Chelsea and Manchester United so I would be surprised if they take a backward step against a team they could take a point off.
The Canaries do concede goals away from home, but only Chelsea and United have scored more than 1 goal and both of those sides needed goals in the last 10 minutes to secure the win.
With Villa struggling for goals consistently, I think 1 goal for Norwich could be enough to at least avoid defeat and I do like them doing so at odds against.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Aston Villa 1-1 Norwich City
