Aston Villa vs QPR Predictions

Two play-off contenders meet on Tuesday, as Aston Villa meet QPR. The two sides have outside hopes of climbing into the top six, but they’ve spent the season outside of the top spots. Both teams have managed to hang in and around the race without ever threatening to break out in front, but there’s still plenty of time for either to move into the play-offs. Can either side respond to mixed weekend results with three points that will kick-start their promotion hopes?

Aston Villa had certainly enjoyed a goal-packed Christmas, which continued with Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Preston. The side who had played out a high scoring draw at Villa Park early in Dean Smith’s reign were a thorn in his side again. They were unable to take more than a point back from Deepdale, which has widened the gap between Villa and the top six to five points. Will they close in on success with a victory on New Years’ Day?

The visitors drew at home to Reading at the weekend, which seems like a huge missed opportunity for the Rs. They left two points behind them in that poor result, which has also seen them drift away from sixth. While QPR should still be pleased with how they elevated themselves out of the bottom three and into the promotion picture, they still have ambitions of kicking on in the second half of the season.

These two sides are fairly evenly matched, with only a point between them in the table. We expect Villa to push on in front of their home support, given how attacking they’ve been at Villa Park under Dean Smith. In seven games under the new boss, they’ve scored 19 times at home. Their only issue that in their last four games here, they’ve scored 13 times, winning just once. They’ve shipped 12 goals in that time, form which should continue here.

QPR have scored in their last four away trips, while 75% of Villa’s home games have finished without a clean sheet. It seems like that form should continue this weekend, as the pair chase a promotion boost. Both teams to score seems like a value pick for this clash, given the hosts’ recent high scoring nature. We are going with goals as our main tip here, while we see the Villains edging out a victory. A 2-1 home win is our correct score tip, alongside our main selection of BTTS.