Aston Villa vs. Crystal Palace Predictions: 21/1 card double for Sunday's EPL clash

Its 11th v 12th this Sunday as Aston Villa host Crystal Palace on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season on a very busy Sunday at 2pm.

Whilst neither team has anything to play for per se, there's little to suggest either side is "on the beach" and with two fiercely competitive managers, both will be still eyeing a top half finish this season.

The visitors sit one spot ahead of Villa in the Premier League by a single point and are unbeaten in their last three, beating Southampton and Watford in their last two matches.

Villa are still showing signs of live and had won their last two games against Norwich and Burnley before losing 2-1 to Liverpool in the week. Steven Gerard's side had more than enough chances to get something out of that game though and his are the favourites to sign off their season at Villa Park with a win.

Villa won the return fixture 2-1 back in November in what was a pretty spiky game at Selhurst which saw both sides receive three yellow cards which could be something to look at on Sunday.

• Over 1.5 goals
• Over 3.5 Aston Villa corners
• Over 2.5 cards

I've picked out three short priced singles to combine in a bet builder at Paddy Power to give us a bet over evens for Sunday's match.

77% of Villa's games this season have seen over 1.5 goals this season which increases to 80% for games at Villa Park and 15 of their 17 games have seen this bet come in. Palace whilst a bit tighter still see this line beaten in 76% of their away games and all bar four matches away from Selhurst this season.

Villa have plenty of attacking talent and with either Coutinho or Buendia pulling the strings I'm expecting plenty in the way of shots. It's the corners line that takes my fancy here with Villa averaging 5.2 corners per game this season, there should be some insurance here at over 3.5.

Finally I touched upon the bookings earlier and these two sides are no stranger to cards, with Villa in particular having the third worst disciplinary record in the Premier League this season averaging 2.2 cards per game. Referee Chris Kavanagh is averaging 3.76 yellow cards this season from 16 matches plus three reds and whilst there's nothing on the line in terms of relegation, these two sides will be pumped up to finish the season off in style.

Sticking with the cards theme I've picked two full backs to get into the referees notebook.

The first is Matty Cash who is 5/2 with Betfair. The Villa right-back has racked up the second most fouls for Villa this season and eight yellow cards and a red. He''ll be up against Wilf Zaha on Sunday who attracts fouls like no other in the Premier League. He tops the charts as having been fouled 91 times this season, 15 times more than the next player on the list (Ivan Toney).

The second selection which makes up a 21/1 double is Joel Ward for Crystal Palace. Whilst Ward hasn't wracked up as many fouls as Cash this season, he has managed to pick up eight yellow cards, the second most in the Palace squad behind Conor Gallagher and its his price that attracts me. I've been backing him a lot in this market this season and Betfair consistently have him priced around the 4/1 mark despite his bookings record. He's 9/2 on Saturday again, away from home and playing out of position on the left he really boosts this card double.