Aston Villa vs Ipswich Predictions

Aston Villa should have the perfect remedy to their poor form, as they meet bottom side Ipswich on Saturday. That means that Paul Lambert is returning to Villa Park, following an unpopular spell at the club. He played a big part in turning Villa into strugglers during his reign, and now the Tractor Boys’ boss is struggling to turn around the fortunes of his new charges. Can he inspire Ipswich to a rare away win this weekend?

The home side are now without a win in their last five matches, following the weekend’s 2-2 draw with in form Hull. The Villains have dropped into the bottom half of the Championship as a result, slipping seven points shy of the top six. That’s not an unbridgeable gap, but this is a tough division to pick up form in, and there are plenty of playoff contenders who are lining up now that Villa have fallen away. Dean Smith sparked something when he arrived at the club, and he needs his team to find that form once again.

Ipswich have nothing going for them at the minute, losing five of their last six games. A defeat at Blackburn last weekend has left them bottom of the table, seven points shy of safety. While we hold out a little hope for Villa making up that distance, the same can’t be said for Ipswich. The problem for the hosts has been a recent poor run, the Tractor Boys have been poor throughout the campaign.

This hasn’t been the best hunting ground for the visitors in recent years. Ipswich have lost five of their last six away matches against Aston Villa in all competitions. They’ve shipped two goals in all of those defeats, and now they meet a Villa side who are in fine form going forward. The hosts have averaged 2.29 goals per game at their own ground this season, scoring 19 times across their last seven Championship games here. Seeing as Ipswich have conceded at least twice in 13 of their 14 away trips, we’re backing over 1.5 Villa goals here.

The hosts’ scoring chances are boosted by Tammy Abraham, the league’s top scorer. He has scored 10 times across the last six Championship matches at Villa Park, and we expect the Chelsea loanee to cause problems here. We’re backing Abraham to score any time on Saturday, in what should be a high scoring success for the Villains.