Aston Villa vs Bolton Predictions

Can Dean Smith pick up a much needed win when his Aston Villa side meet Bolton? The hosts kick off the Championship weekend aiming to end a poor run, which has seen them drop down the standings. When he arrived from Brentford, the goal was to kick off a run for a top six finish. However, his winning debut has been followed up with a couple of defeats, which has put their play-off hopes on hold. Will they get things back on track with a win over the Trotters, or will Phil Parkinson’s side cause a shock?

Aston Villa are 17th in the table, a full seven points off the play-offs. In the Championship, that’s quite a big gap. There’s some way for Smith to go as he looks to take them back to the Premier League, after their defeats at Norwich and QPR. However, those were difficult games for the new boss to face. Both of those sides are in the top four in the league’s form table, so it’s no great shame for Villa to lose those trips. However, they have a chance to improve their form – with Bolton possessing the second worst record in the league over the last eight games.

Bolton are just two places and two points shy of Villa in the table, despite starting the season as one of the main contenders for relegation. They’re still only just above the drop zone, sitting four points clear of Reading. Despite being only narrow behind the Villains, they head into this clash as massive underdogs. Given that they’re currently defying their relegation odds, will the Trotters do the same in this visit to Villa Park?

The visitors have failed to win any of their last five, picking up a single point at struggling Rotherham. Bolton failed to score in all four of those defeats, and they’re one of the least impressive attacking forces in the second tier. The visitors have just 11 goals so far, and they head to a Villa side who managed to grind out a 1-0 win in their last home game.

We expect Villa to add to Bolton’s awful run of late. On top of that, we can’t see a high scoring game in this clash. Bolton have been short on goals of late, and the visitors have only managed to score more than once on one occasion in their last seven games. The visitors have seen under 3.5 goals in 87% of their games this season, so we think Villa to win and under 3.5 goals is the best bet here.