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Villa on the up now

November 26th, 2016 | Ian Carnaby's Sports News

Last week was profitable with Sunderland easily beating Hull and Sheffield United accounting for Shrewsbury at a much shorter price. How we missed three out of three I shall never know, because Liverpool were all over Southampton without forcing the win.

Liverpool look potential champions to me and they will probably make mincemeat of Sunderland this weekend. The price is too short, however, and I would just add that Sunderland can make a game of it, go down fighting and it will not affect their chances of survival. I think they will stay up.

Once they get over the disappointment of their Champions League exit, Tottenham can still make a go of it in the Premier League, though the visit to Chelsea will test them to the full. It is to be hoped things do not erupt as they did last season.

I thought Southampton were very poor in Prague, once again showing very little imagination in an away game in Europe. I am probably the only Saints supporter who can see worrying times ahead, especially with the possible Chinese takeover unsettling people. Southampton defended well against Liverpool but it’s hard to see any of the strikers scoring more than a dozen goals (if that) this season and the service from the flanks is poor. Romeu and Van Dijk are excellent but the Dutchman should have scored with a straightforward header against Sparta.

How you lift players after a performance like that I don’t know. Everton arrive at St Mary’s on the back of a 5-0 thrashing at Chelsea and it simply isn’t a game to bet on, though the home team will have more chance if Dusan Tadic is fit to play.

I see few betting opportunities beyond a hard-earned point for Middlesbrough at Leicester, while Watford v Stoke also looks tight but less entertaining.
There are clear signs that Steve Bruce is turning things around at Villa Park and I’d be prepared to accept a shade of odds-on against Cardiff, especially after the good result at Brighton. Neil Warnock is two different people, of course, the one who writes reasonably entertaining newspaper articles and the one who routinely abuses referees and anyone else within earshot when things go wrong. He also happens to be a very clever tactician and Cardiff will not go down but Villa are a fair bet at 10/11.

Leicester v Middlesbrough 10 units THE DRAW at 13/5
Watford v Stoke 10 units THE DRAW at 12/5
ASTON VILLA 25 units at 10/11 (Betfred, Betway) to beat Cardiff

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