Saturday 19/04/2014, 17:30, England Premier League, Round 35, Aston Villa vs Southampton

Aston Villa vs Southampton Betting Preview

Aston Villa is mired in a four-game losing streak and their advantage over the teams struggling in the relegation area has been reduced to four points. They will be facing two of their counter candidates in the remaining rounds, but for the time being they need to focus at the task at hand. Winning points against Southampton would normally be an easy task, as the visitors have already accomplished their mission for 2014 and are waiting for the season to end.

Aston Villa vs Southampton Betting Odds

At Bet365

Aston Villa 3.40, Draw 3.40, Southampton 2.10

Aston Villa vs Southampton Betting Tips

The main reason for why Aston Villa is credited with the second chance to win despite playing at home against an unmotivated opponent has to do with more than its losing streak. Obviously, it didn't help losing four games in a row, but the suspension of two key staff members only make matters worse.

Among those who are no longer win the club are assistant manager Ian Culverhouse and Gary Karsa, as both of them were suspended for at least one week. Club officials refrained from giving additional details, but it looks like an internal investigation is pending and the two are accused of bullying players.

Aston Villa is in dire need of points and dropping more at home would further reduce the cushion they still hold over Fulham and Cardiff. Ending the slide is going to be very difficult without seven players, as their disabled list has been growing since early March.

The visitors are not in great shape either and except for the lopsided victory over Newcastle, they didn't accomplish anything memorable in the last month. Southampton allowed seven goals on the road and scored just three and now they will need to improve their offensive performance without Jay

Rodriguez. He's their most prolific striker, scoring 15 goals in 33 matches but he suffered a knee ligament injury and won't be playing for the rest of the season.

Key Facts

• Manager Mauricio Pochettino will be rotating Gaston Ramirez, Ward-Prowse and Guly do Prado, to find a suitable replacement for Jay Rodriguez. None of them are proven strikers.
• At the top of the injury list for Aston Villa is Christian Benteke, whose 10 goals are more than what the other active strikers have scored in 2014.

Aston Villa vs Southampton Betting Odds Prediction

It is not going to be easy for Aston Villa to win this match despite having home pitch advantage, but they should be able to avoid defeat. With Benteke suspended, they will start with just one striker, something that the visitors are also expected to do in the absence of Jay Rodriguez. Instead of picking a winner, I would rather bet on fewer than 2.5 goals to be scored, at odds close to evens.

Bet: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.90 with Bet365