Aston Villa will look to climb up into third position in the Premier League table as they travel to Craven Cottage to take on mid-table Fulham in the lunchtime kickoff on Saturday.
Aston Villa stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to three matches last weekend, as they edged a seven-goal thriller at home to Sunderland thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Tammy Abraham.
Unai Emery’s visitors are now eight points clear of sixth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion, but they travel to West London having won just one of their last seven Premier League encounters on their travels (W1-D3-L3), and none of their past four.
Fulham are another side that has struggled on their travels in recent months, winning just one of their previous eight (W1-D3-L5), but they did hold West London rivals Brentford to a goalless draw last weekend.
Marco Silva’s hosts are far stronger at home picking up 29 points from a possible 48 (W9-D2-L5), coming from a goal down to defeat relegated Burnley in their last clash at the Cottage.
The Cottagers head into the weekend in 12th position, just five points behind sixth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.
How the bookies view it: Villa slight favourites
Despite winning just one of their last seven Premier League fixtures on the road, Aston Villa have been priced as slight favourites to claim all three points, with bet365 pricing an away success at 29/20.
Fulham are 7/4 to claim a 10th Premier League victory at home this season, whilst the draw is 13/5.
Head to head: Six wins on the spin for Villa
Aston Villa have been victorious in each of their previous six Premier League meetings with Fulham (W6-D0-L0), including a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture at Villa Park at the end of September.
Players to watch: In-form Ollie to get on the scoresheet again?
Ollie Watkins is a man in red-hot form at the moment, as he has scored seven goals and provided two assists across his previous eight matches in all competitions, including a brace and an assist against Sunderland last weekend.
The England international has also scored in four of his previous five appearances against Fulham – including in the reverse fixture at Villa Park and on his previous two visits to Craven Cottage – and is an appealing 1/1 at bet365 to Score or Assist on Saturday.
Backed a player to find the net? Check our Goalscorer Betting guide to see how the markets work and where to find value.
Predicted line-ups:
Fulham will be without Kenny Tete and Kevin due to injury, whilst Alex Iwobi is a doubt.
Aston Villa will still be without the injured Boubacar Kamara.
Fulham: Leno, Castaneda, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon, Lukic, Cairney, Wilson, Smith-Rowe, Chukwueze, Muniz
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne, Onana, Tielemans, McGinn, Barkley, Rogers, Watkins
Anything else catch the eye?
Aston Villa come into this clash off the back of edging a seven-goal thriller, and goals look likely as they travel to West London on Saturday.
Goals have been a feature of Fulham’s matches at the Cottage this season, with their opening 16 Premier League clashes averaging 2.88 goals per game, with Over 2.5 Goals landing in 10 (63%) of them, including in six of their past seven and eight of their previous 10.
What’s more, Over 2.5 Goals has landed in eight of the previous 10 meetings between these two sides – including in the last five at Craven Cottage – and a repeat pays 3/4 at William Hill.
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