Aston Villa vs Sheffield United Prediction and Betting Tips: 11/8 and 4/1 picks from Villa Park
As Christmas creeps ever closer the festive football schedule continues with Aston Villa taking on Sheffield United in the Premier League on Friday evening. Our man Anthony Eadson has two tips for the game from Villa Park including a player to be carded at a very backable 4/1.
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Hosts Aston Villa are in third place on 38 points, a point behind league leaders Arsenal through 17 matches. Unai Emery’s side won their last Premier League match 2-1 against Brentford, extending their unbeaten streak to six (W5 D1 L0).
Sheffield United's last league match saw them beaten 2-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Improvement has been noticeable under Chris Wilder, but the Blades remain bottom of the table having collected eight points, leaving them a further six from safety as we approach the half-way stage.
Aston Villa have now won a remarkable 15 consecutive top-flight home matches, with only Manchester City collecting more points in the calendar year. Unsurprisingly the hosts are the short priced favourites to continue their run, with odds of just 1/5 on show, while the draw can be backed at 6/1. Sheffield United are the only team in the division yet to win on the road this season and for those who fancy that to change on Friday 12/1 is available.
Aston Villa vs Sheffield United
For my main play of the evening I’m backing Ollie Watkins to score and Gustavo Hamer to give away Over 0.5 fouls at 11/8 via the bet365 Bet Builder feature.
It has been a superb year for Watkins who needs just one more goal to become only the third ever player to hit 50 in the Premier League for Aston Villa, along with Gabby Agbonlahor and Dwight Yorke. The Villa talisman has scored in four of his last six and can find the net here against a Sheffield United side who have conceded more away goals than any other side this season.
Watkins is priced at just 8/11 to find the net, but combining him with Gus Hamer to give away a foul takes us up to a very backable 11/8. The midfielder was shown 21 yellows across his last two campaigns at Coventry and has four to his name since making the switch to South Yorkshire. When it comes to fouls Hamer tops the charts for Sheffield United this season and has given away at least one in 15 of his 16 appearances this season.
At 4/1, I also like the look of John McGinn to be carded. The Scot is part of a long list of players who have four yellows to their name heading into this latest round of fixtures, meaning if they pick up one more they will enjoy Boxing Day off due to suspension.
McGinn has been an avid card collector during his career and has twiced reached double figures for yellows in a single campaign for Villa. At 4/1, he looks a little too big of a price considering the rise in cards in the Premier League this season and I’m happy to have him on side when considering he is averaging 1.3 fouls per game.
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