Aston Villa vs. Manchester United, EPL Round 22, 15 January 2022 19:30
Aston Villa vs. Manchester United, EPL Round 22, 15 January 2022 19:30

Aston Villa vs. Manchester United, EPL Round 22, 15 January 2022 19:30

After an unsuccessful trip to Old Trafford on Monday night that saw the Villains getting eliminated from the FA Cup, Steven Gerrard’s men will face Man United for the second time this week with both teams shifting their focus back to the EPL. The Liverpudlian has been in charge at Villa for nearly two months now and in that time he has already made a dramatic impact at the club. At the time he took over Aston Villa were on a five match losing streak and treading dangerously close to the relegation zone, but since then he has managed to secure four wins out of eight EPL matches. This might not sound that impressive but it’s taken the club to 14th place on the table and 10 points clear of the relegation zone which is a dramatic improvement from just two months ago. Two of those four losses came against Liverpool and Manchester City and were only by a margin of one goal which is not a bad result considering many hidings have been dished out this season by City and the Reds. Big news is that Gerrard’s former Liverpool teammate Philippe Coutinho will spend the rest of his season at Aston Villa on loan from Barcelona and he is set to make his debut for the club on Saturday. After their loss earlier in the week you can be sure the Villans will be keen for revenge and with a new midfielder in their ranks they should be brimming with confidence and fancy their chances of picking up their second league win against the Red Devils this season.

Manchester United’s last league match was a couple of days after the New Year and saw them going down 1-0 to Wolves at Old Trafford. That loss ended a five match winning streak across all competitions and it was also Rangnick’s first loss as manager. As a result United have slipped further away from the Top 5 and they now sit in seventh place with 31 points, two points behind Tottenham. Although they have a couple of games in hand, Spurs are as many as three matches behind schedule and this makes United’s path to the Top 5 even more challenging. With the exception of their 3-1 win against Burnley, it would appear as if the team is still getting used to the German’s brand of football and are struggling to bag convincing wins. Just scoring one goal against the likes of Crystal Palace and Norwich was far from convincing and a 1-1 draw against bottom dwellers Newcastle was a wasted opportunity to secure three points. Although the United defense appears to be holding up well for now, we need to see more convincing performances from their attack if they are going to get themselves a spot in Europe next season. Until their attack kicks-on and starts scoring more than just one goal per match on a regular basis they will always run the risk of losing out on valuable points in the race for their place in the Top 5.

In the last five EPL matches between the teams Manchester United have won three, Aston Villa have won one and there has been one draw. Their most recent EPL clash was at Old Trafford in September last year and saw the Villans leaving with three points, while the last clash at Villa Park last season was comfortably won 3-1 by United. The last EPL encounter was the first time in five matches that there was fewer than 2.5 goals and three out of the last five matches have featured both teams scoring.

Prediction

When asked who will win between Aston Villa and Manchester United most people won’t even think twice about saying United, but this time around I don’t think it is that clear cut and the bookies also seem to think so because the odds are very evenly poised for this one. For me Manchester United’s attack is still not convincing enough under the leadership of Rangnick and I cannot see them netting a handful and helping their side ease to victory. The Red Devils may have won the FA Cup clash on Monday, but they were actually very lucky to come away with the win after two Villa goals were disallowed. There just appears to be more hunger in the Villa camp right now and since they have already managed to pull off a win against United this season I do think they have a shot of at least forcing a stalemate in this match. The odds for backing Aston Villa on the double chance are a bit low for my liking so I will instead opt for Aston Villa to win or draw and Under 2.5 goals in the match or you could just take Under 2.5 goals on its own. There may have been plenty of goals in the majority of EPL matches between the two teams, but  their last two clashes across all competitions have seen just one goal each and with the United attack still struggling to kick-on we may just be in for another low-scoring affair. There’s a lot of talk in the media about the inclusion of Coutinho into the Villa team and he might just have an immediate impact and score in his first game at Villa Park so I will have a small bet on him to score as well.

BetOlimp Best Bets

Total Goals: Total 2.5 under – 2.00
Total Goals/Result: Aston Villa or Draw and Under 2.5 Goals – 2.61
Anytime Goalscorer: Philippe Coutinho – 3.85

 
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