With renewed optimism with the appointment of Steve Bruce, this season is now riper for seeing Aston Villa return to the Premier League, and getting an early start on the bets might be a good idea.
With a manager with four Championship promotions under his belt and a team full of quality players that just need organising properly, if things click into place, there maybe value for Villans.
As the odds show, Villa are in a good stance this season, as bookies have them at 6/1 odds to get promoted. For the optimistic, Villa are 50/1 to win the Championship title, while the top 6 finish odds are 2/1. The safest bet would be to bet on Villa entering the top 6, but it is also the least lucrative one.
Can Villa Make the Playoffs?
The odds for Villa to win the playoffs at the moment are 9/4. A £10 bet won’t return much, but considering that Villa has the team to reach the top 6, this could be a sure bet. Surely, with the quality they have, Villa would be fancied in the play-offs? Consider making a bigger bet amount, or make an accumulator with sure bets like Top Midlands club or similar.
Outside Top Scorers
OK, so Bristol City’s Tammy Abraham has scored eight goals so far this season, followed by Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle and Brentford’s Scott Hogan on seven goals, but if Villa were to rally, then there is a good chance it could be down to two strikers that have previously hit the 20-goal mark in the Championship.
Jonathan Kodja (one goal) is 50/1 and Villa’s current top scorer Rudy Gestede (on three goals) is at 25/1 to finish top scorer in the Championship. Both would be considered decent punts at those odds with 35 games to go.
Could Villa Go Down?
People laughed at Sky Sports Football League analyst Ian Holloway when he suggested that it wasn’t impossible that Villa could go down again this season. So far, he’s been proved right, so there is a temptation to look at the odds.
Prior to the beginning of the season Holloway put them at the 16th spot, which lead Tony Xia to react by calling him a failed manager and a f**** pundit. He even said that they should be lucky being placed so high since he is worried nothing will change again. According to him, the players didn’t respect the badge enough.
Bookies are giving Villa 13/8 to finish the season in the bottom half. Relegation? 25/1 for what would be the ‘Aston Villa Apocalypse’. A £10 bet would bag you £260.
But with Bruce in the picture, there is little doubt that Villa has the squad to challenge for promotion back into the Elite despite squandering many a three points during the beginning of the season. If Bruce finds that magic formula that would get the starting XI winning, things should head in a completely different direction.
UTV
