This Saturday sees Swansea City travel to Aston Villa in the Football League Championship, with a sell-out crowd of over 41,000 expected at Villa Park, including almost 2,800 travelling Jacks.
Swansea currently sit two points outside the play-offs, but will still be scratching their heads how they suffered defeat against Ipswich Town in their last game.
Swansea dominated the possession in the match having 73% of the ball and won the shot count in the game by 19-9, yet Ipswich won the game by scoring with each of their three shots on target in the game.
The defeat would have been a painful one for Graham Potter and his team, and the international break will have felt that little bit longer for them having to dwell on the result.
Aston Villa’s poor start by their standards and high level of expectation, recently led to the sacking of Steve Bruce.
Saturday’s game sees Dean Smith take charge of Villa for the first time, assisted by John Terry, in front of a sell out Villa Park crowd.
Villa did start the season well by winning their first three league and cup games, but one win in eleven, has seen Villa slide to 15th in the table and ultimately led to the dismissal of Bruce.
Aston Villa v Swans Head to Head Stats
The overall head to head record between the two sides at Villa Park is:
Games played: 12
Swans wins: 3
Villa wins: 8
Draws: 1
Swans Goals: 6
Villa Goals: 24
Take a look at all of the historical results between the two clubs, since their first meeting in 1936, on our Aston Villa v Swansea City Head to Head Statistics page.
Aston Villa v Swans Match Predictions
I think punters and fans expecting the “new manager bounce” to take effect on Saturday, and for Villa to win the game, may be surprised this week.
I did a bit of research and there were ten managerial changes in the Championship during the 2017/18 season (this didn’t include changes in pre-season or when the season had concluded), with only two of these managers tasting success in their first game, with the other six suffering a defeat.
It is a small sample of data, but it shows it is not a given that a new manager can immediately work wonders at an underachieving team and Smith will have the added challenge of trying to implement a new philosophy with a number of his team away on international duty.
Despite their recent loss, I do feel Swansea are a top half team who can challenge for the play-offs, especially when you consider them being difficult to beat away from home where they have lost only one game in six.
I would recommend backing Swansea-Draw double chance which is available at 93/100 (1.93) with MarathonBet at the time of writing. With this bet you are backing basically the Swans to avoid defeat as you win if the Swans win or draw.
In terms of a scorer option, Bersant Celina got off the mark for the season last time out against Ipswich, and I feel he is good value as an anytime goalscorer with Betway at 11/2 (6.50).
Bersant has had 16 shots on goal so far this season, which is only one less than Oli McBurnie, and with Villa having the joint second worst defensive record in the division, then you feel there will be opportunities for him to add to his goalscoring tally on the weekend.
Bet Recommendations
Swansea – Draw Double Chance: 93/100 (1.93) with Marathon Bet.
Bersant Celina to score anytime: 11/2 (6.50) with BetWay.
All of the odds quoted on this page are correct at the time of writing. Our match predictions are fully researched and are provided to you in good faith, but please note that we cannot guarantee a profit on any bets you place and ask you to gamble responsibly.
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