support

Fri 23 October 2015 11:04, UK

Garry Monk will show that speculation over his future is misguided by beating Aston Villa, argues Michael Lintorn…
Get the best odds and a £30 free bet now by clicking here
Aston Villa 3.05 v Swansea 2.66; The Draw 3.30
Saturday, 15:00
Aston Villa
One point from eight Premier League games has both seen Tim Sherwood frogmarched to the front of the Next Manager To Leave Position queue at 1.48 and also led to a proliferation of incidents in which a defiant Tim Sherwood tells us what Tim Sherwood is doing or thinking in the third person.
On the plus side, they appear to be catching Swansea at the right time, but this is only of limited consolation because Aston Villa lost their previous two home fixtures to West Brom and Stoke sides who were in worse positions than the Welsh club when they showed up at Villa Park.
Sherwood will be without Jores Okore and Gary Gardner yet again, while Ciaran Clark and Gabriel Agbonlahor are doubts.
Swansea
Whereas it is easy to understand Sherwood’s sack race favouritism, it is trickier to comprehend what Garry Monk is doing as his closest challenger at 3.75. The movement in his price was triggered by newspaper reports that he missed training on Wednesday, yet Swansea quickly disproved it.
They aren’t in great form at the moment, going six outings without a win in all competitions and losing four of those, but it was less than two months ago that he was being applauded for outwitting Louis van Gaal for the third clash in a row and hyped as a future England boss. Even accounting for their present downturn, Swansea are as close to the top seven as they are to the relegation zone.
There isn’t anything to concern them on the injury front either as, unless they have kept one carefully concealed, they are the sole Premier League team with an unoccupied treatment table.
Match Odds
As alluded to earlier, Villa’s recent meetings with fellow strugglers have acted as a launching pad for their opponents rather than themselves, with West Brom, Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea the beneficiaries.
They have suffered five successive league defeats, and combining that sequence with the head-to-head figures points to a result that could prove fatal to Sherwood at 2.66.
Swansea have won all three collisions with Villa under Monk, are unbeaten in five against the midlanders and have lost just one of eight skirmishes across the entirety of their Premier League existence. They have taken seven points from four trips to Villa Park, earning four in their latest two.
Under 2.5 Goals
Both 2014/15 scraps between the Villans and Swans served up a single goal, six of their total eight Premier League showdowns have provided under 2.5 goals and their records to date this term indicate that this will be a winning wager again at 1.71.
Five of Villa’s last six top-flight encounters as hosts produced two goals or less, with the exception being a 2-2 draw against a Sunderland defence so leaky that nobody has failed to score past them.
Monk’s men meanwhile started their travelling campaign with a flourish by holding champions Chelsea to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on the opening day, but subsequent contests have been very restrained. Three of their four away days since in all competitions featured under 2.5 goals.
Recommended Bet:
Back Swansea to win @ 2.66
Get the best odds and a £30 free bet now by clicking her