ASTON VILLA will be targeting a morale-boosting victory in the Carabao Cup when they travel to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Steven Gerrard’s side had a nightmare start to the new Premier League season on the opening day of the campaign, as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat at newly-promoted Bournemouth
While the Villians bounced back with a 2-1 win over Everton, it proved to be something a false dawn as they were put to the sword 3-1 by Crystal Palace on Saturday.
As such, pressure is starting to build on Gerrard to deliver improvement, so he will demand an immediate response from his team when they turn their attention to the EFL Cup this midweek.
Bolton, meanwhile, enjoyed a bright start to the season in League One before tasting defeat for the first time this term at home to Sheffield Wednesday last time out.
Ian Evatt’s men swept aside Salford in the last round to set up this tie and they may sense an opportunity to cause an upset here and prolong Aston Villa’s early season misery in the process.
Outright Betting
Bolton Wanderers slumped to a 2-0 defeat when the two teams last met back in 2019 and a similar outcome is being anticipated by the bookmakers here, with a home win chalked up at 6/1 (Coral) while the 90 minute draw can be backed at a best 17/4 (Bet 365),
Despite winning just one of their last seven away matches, Aston Villa make the trip north as short-priced 4/9 (Bet 365) favourites.
Betting Angles
It’s difficult to have much faith in Aston Villa at the above-mentioned price, but backing both teams to score looks like an appealing alternative at 19/20 (Bet 365).
While Bolton failed to breach Sheffield Wednesday’s backline at the weekend, that was the first time Ian Evatt’s side haven’t managed to score on home turf this term to date.
In fact, the Trotters have struck at least once in 12 of their 14 matches across all competitions, including seven of their last eight outings at their University of Bolton Stadium base.
As such, Bolton will quietly fancy their chances of causing a cup shock here and the attacking threat they carry could see them get in on act against Aston Villa rearguard that is not exactly renowned for being watertight.
Gerrard’s side have yet to record a clean sheet in the Premier League this season, not to mention they conceded at least one goal in each of their final five top-flight fixtures last term.
It’s also worth pointing out that Villa have only managed to keep their sheets clean in a lowly eight of their 32 Premier League matches under the Liverpool legends’ watch.
What’s more, both teams to score backers would have been rewarded in seven of Aston Villa’s last eight competitive contests.
With all this in mind, coupled with the likelihood of Gerrard rotating his resources for this cup tie, backing both teams to score stands out at 19/20 (Bet 365).
This EFL Cup match between Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa will be played on Aug 23, 2022 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Bolton Wanderers vs Aston Villa prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
