FRIDAY'S French card has been decimated due to midweek cup games but still some good looking matches on tonight’s card.
Aston Villa v Bolton (7.45pm)
It’s not been a great few weeks for new Villa manager Dean Smith. Back-to-back away defeats leaves them languishing in 17th place.
Two reasons to be optimistic though. They are at home where they’ve only lost one of their 7 games and host a Bolton side who are in far worse shape than them.
Despite hammering the door, Villa couldn’t get a leveller away at QPR last Friday but still have quality in the squad to get out of this predicament.
Villa have certainly been good for corners this season and should rack up at least another 7 or 8 tonight given they are at home against a poor Bolton side and need to win.
Bolton have failed to score in 6 of their last 8 and are without a win 7, I don’t see that record getting any better tonight.
Brest v Red star (7pm)
A fantastic opportunity for in-form Brest to hit the summit of Ligue 2 tonight. They’ve pulled in 19 points from their last 21 available and face a Red Star side who already looked destined for the drop to the National Ligue.
It’s such a competitive league, to win 6 games on the spin is unheard of and having scored 13 goals in their last 4 home matches, they are strong favourites against a side with two draws and 4 defeats on the road.
Huge gulf in quality and confidence between these two and Brest should get the three points.
In December 2020 we sadly 
