Aston Villa vs Southampton Predictions

• Villa beat Brentford 3-1 at Villa Park on Wednesday.
• Southampton have six defeats in seven Premier League trips.
• Saints have scored in five of their last six games.

Villa can back up Bees win

Aston Villa brought an end to an eight-game winless run by beating Brentford 3-1 in the midweek round of games and they should be able to follow that up with another three points against rock-bottom Southampton.

Unless something drastic happens, Saints are heading for an immediate return to the Championship having managed just five points from their opening 14 games.

The visitors have picked up just one point from seven games away from home in the Premier League and Villa are the justified heavy favourites.

The value play could be taking a chance on Southampton to score in defeat, as goals haven’t necessarily been the issue for Russell Martin’s men.

Saints can get on the scoresheet

Southampton were thrashed by Chelsea in their midweek assignment, with a first half red card when they were already trailing effectively ending that game as a contest. They did at least grab a goal in that 5-1 loss and they may be able to find a way through at Villa.

The South Coast club have only failed to score in one of their last six games and have scored in six of their last eight away from home across all competitions.

Villa’s defence was breached by the Bees and they’ve only kept one clean sheet in their last nine games, so there is a good chance both teams can score here and Villa are obviously the more likely winners.

Correct score backers may consider a 3-1 win for the hosts as Saints have shipped exactly three goals in three of their seven away games in this competition, and all of those losses were 3-1 defeats.

Ollie Watkins is the obvious candidate for an anytime goal as the Villa forward has seven goals in 14 league games this season and averages 2.8 attempts-per-game. The England international will be on penalty duties and has three goals in his last five games for club and country.

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