Aston Villa v Man City Tips: Leaders to drop more points

Aston Villa v Man City Tips: Leaders to drop more points

Manchester City have lost their last two domestic fixtures and Paul Robinson thinks they will drop points at Villa Park on Wednesday.

Villa are missing their main man

There is no denying that Aston Villa haven't been as good since Jack Grealish was injured, but that's hardly a surprise, and they would have taken 11th place after 30 games of the season.

Grealish is almost certainly still out of this Wednesday's clash with Manchester City, so it will be interesting to see if Dean Smith opts for the more conservative set-up he employed at Anfield last time.

Marvelous Nakamba partnered Douglas Luiz as the two defensively minding midfielders in the middle three, and while they ended up losing the game, it was quite effective for the most part.

The Villans have little to play really as it's unlikely that they will qualify for Europe - although who knows what will happen to the clubs that have signed up to the European Super League.

City need to put their FA Cup defeat behind them

Talking of which, opponents, Manchester City, are one of the 'big six' to sign up to this new competition. The Citizens saw their hopes of a famous quadruple go up in smoke at Wembley on Saturday, but they are eight points clear in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola's team selection is a tough one to second guess, but I would be surprised to see Raheem Sterling in the XI following his performance against Chelsea.

It's actually now two defeats in three for City, and while they won't be looking over their shoulder just yet, they won't want to give Man United any encouragement.

Hosts can take a point

The visitors are short priced favourites here at 1.41 as they bid to pick up their 12th away victory of the campaign - from what would be 16 attempts. The hosts can be backed at 9.8, with the draw trading at around the 5.1 mark.

I actually think that the latter offers a touch of value, as City haven't been at their best in recent weeks, and they might have one eye on Sunday's Carabao Cup Final.

Ollie Watkins has scored in his last two games and he will certainly give Guardiola's defence something to think about. Service might be at a premium, but he is more than capable of converting from just a single chance.

Goal struggles to continue

The odds are a little tighter when it comes to Over/Under 2.5 Goals. Three goals or more is 1.72, with two or less at 2.3.

The bigger of the pair stands out to me, as the goals have dried up for both teams of late. City haven't put the ball in the net more than twice in any of their last seven in all competitions, and while Villa did score three against Fulham in their last home game, their goal-output has generally been low.

Dean Smith's side scored just twice in their four at Villa Park, prior to the visit of the Cottagers, and that led to three of them seeing Under 2.5 backers collecting.

Bet Builder

Everybody loves a bet builder, as you get to put various selections together to make a bet that can pay very high odds.

If we start with my two selections so far (Draw and Under 2.5 Goals), and combine it with Ollie Watkins to have 2+ Shots on target (he is sixth in the rankings with 35 to date) and Villa to have Over 3.5 Corners, we get a Bet Builder of 124/1.