Aston Villa will attempt to snap a poor run at home as they host Crystal Palace in a Premier League fixture on Saturday. Palace have been the draw experts in recent weeks and are likely to hold out for another stalemate at Villa Park.
Villa are coming off a 2-0 victory at Everton in their previous Premier League fixture. After a tight first half, Ollie Watkins opened the scoring midway through the second period while Emiliano Buendia doubled the lead nine minutes from time.
That was a much-needed win for Aston Villa as it ended a run of three straight defeats. The Villans are still in the bottom half of the table but are now level on points with 10th placed Chelsea.
The strange thing about Aston Villa in recent weeks is that they have done their best work on the road and continue to struggle at home. Unai Emery’s men have claimed just one win in their last seven matches at Villa Park, suffering five defeats in that run.
Crystal Palace remain in the bottom half of the table but are not in any present relegation danger. They sit just four points off Chelsea and will be pushing for a top 10 finish in the final weeks of the season.
The Eagles are the draw experts in the Premier League and in a way, have found some consistency in recent weeks. Patrick Vieira’s men have drawn five of their last six matches and held out for a 0-0 scoreline with Liverpool in their previous fixture.
Things have been slightly worse for Crystal Palace on their travels as they have lost three of their last five away matches. However, they did play out a 1-1 draw at Brentford in their previous fixture on the road.
How the bookies view it
Aston Villa have the upper hand among the bookies with a home win priced at 21/20 by William Hill. A victory for Crystal Palace is valued at 3/1 by bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 12/5 by SBK.
Head to head
Aston Villa have a 13-11 edge with nine draws from 33 previous matches against Crystal Palace. Palace claimed a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture while the last meeting at Villa Park ended in a 1-1 draw.
Players to watch
Ollie Watkins has been the man in form in recent weeks, scoring in each of his last five Premier League matches. The striker has also found the net in his last two meetings with Crystal Palace and could be backed at 21/10 by bet365.
With Wilfried Zaha still out injured, Crystal Palace do not have a dedicated source for goals and often spread it across the team. Odsonne Edouard is likely to lead the line on Saturday and is priced at 18/5 by Unibet to get on the score sheet.
Anything else catch the eye?
Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have been on target in their last four meetings and both teams could be backed to score at 21/20 with Unibet. The reverse fixture produced over 3.5 goals which is priced at 10/3 with bet365 while SBK is offering odds of 25/19 for over 2.5 goals.
There have been more goals after the break in the last three meetings and Saturday’s clash could be tipped to follow a similar pattern at 6/5 with Paddy Power.
This English Premier League match between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace will be played on Mar 4, 2023 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
