Bolton vs. Aston Villa Betting Tips: Gerrard's men to bounce back in Lancashire

Round Two of the Carabao Cup sees some Premier League teams enter the fray, and first to run the gauntlet against lower league opposition are Aston Villa who make the trip up to Bolton to take on the Wanderers in front of the Sky Sports cameras at 7:45pm.

Last time this pair faced one another, they were both in the second tier of English football, with Villa coming out 2-0 victors at the University of Bolton Stadium courtesy of strikes from Jack Grealish and loanee Tammy Abraham.

That 18/19 season marked a turning point for both club's fortunes; AVFC returned to the Premier League as play-off winners and Bolton were relegated as a result of that April defeat, eventually falling right the way down to the depths of the Football League for only the second time in their history.

Fast forward to now and despite the gulf in league standings, we have an interesting match up in store. The Midlanders' poor start to the season has been well documented, with plausible excuses running low and pressure mounting on Steven Gerrard.

As for Bolton, Ian Evatt's third campaign in charge of the Lancashire outfit has seen them suffer only one defeat from their opening six in all comps which came over the weekend to promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday.

Taking control of this one for us is our resident Villan @LAHamalam who has weighed in on his side's chances for Tuesday's encounter with these two tips...

With such limited markets up at the time of writing, picking out worthy bets wasn't the easiest task but we think we've found a couple, starting with Villa to win and the away side to score 2+ goals.

We've yet to see Gerrard's men take on non-Premier League opposition and this should make for an interesting contest for that reason alone. But despite the criticisms many supporters and neutrals have about his coaching at B6, his comments last season about the importance of taking the League Cup seriously for a club like Villa bodes well.

With only one win from their opening three games, Gerrard has said the claret and blue will line up strongly in this one. Tuesday's fixture could provide them with the possibility of building some momentum after a crushing defeat to Crystal Palace, and also offers the chance to put together a cup run alongside their league aspirations for the season.

Plain and simply put Aston Villa have been a more competent team on their travels during SG's tenure, gaining six of their 11 wins away from Villa Park since November 2021.

In the 31 games Stevie G has overseen thus far, they have scored two or more goals in 12 of them. Four of their victories have come by one goal, while a two-goal win margin has landed in the other five; three of which came against now relegated teams to give you an indication of how they might fare vs L1 Bolton

This particular bet would have landed in Bolton's most recent outing on Saturday as the hosts were put to the sword by Sheffield Wednesday in Horwich. In Ian Evatt's seven FA Cup/League Cup games while overseeing the Trotters, their opposition have scored over one goal in four of these fixtures.

With the likes of Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins, Philippe Coutinho and Emi Buendia all in contention for a start, the visitors have enough firepower to put their League One opposition away here.

If placing with Bet365, not only will you get the best possible odds, but this selection will also have the benefit of being eligible for their early payout offer which means if Villa go two goals up at any point during the match, the bet will be an immediate winner.

Given a number of different factors, Conor Bradley being priced up at 7/2 to receive a card seems too good to ignore.

The Liverpool loanee comes into this one having been cautioned in two consecutive appearances for the Wanderers, making his card total three for the season since joining from the Reds over the summer.

Gerrard and his team selection could cause a lot of problems for the right wing back, with Villa often focusing a lot of their attacking attention down the left-hand side. Buendia/Coutinho, Digne and Ramsey all play within close proximity to one another, seeking tight passing combinations to create openings in key areas.

You can imagine Bradley will be instructed to contain the flow of the opposition's play down that particular channel as controlling this route often gives you a good chance of beating Steven Gerrard's team. But as sides have witnessed in the opening three PL matches, that is easier said than done. Jeffrey Schlupp, Tom Davies and Adam Smith have all been brandished a yellow card when involved down that side of the pitch against Villa.

The 19-year-old will be keen to make a lasting impression given the fact that his parent club will likely be tuning in, and there's no better way to do that than ruffling a few Premier League players' feathers with a strong challenge or two.

And with other firms going as short as 7/4 for a Bradley booking, we'll be taking this as our larger-priced play.

Please gamble responsibly.