These two relegation battling sides both had good results at the weekend and will be looking to boost their survival hopes when they meet on Tuesday night.
Villa managed to stop their win-less streak of 10 to record a decent victory over play-off chasers Derby County on Saturday afternoon, putting them eight points clear of the drop-zone with a game in hand over most of the teams around them.
Facing Derby was actually quite ideal for Steve Bruce’s side on Saturday as, with Derby not being fantastic going forward, Villa could record a victory despite their own goal-scoring problems – they have scored the second-lowest number of goals in the league with just 31 in 33 matches.
Home form has been quite good for The Villans this season and they have only lost two league games at Villa Park so far this campaign – second place Newcastle United have lost double that. Their latest victory against Derby was their first at home in four matches and confidence should now be restored on home turf for Villa.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Newcastle may have felt like a loss for Bristol City considering they were 2-0 at one stage, however, even a point against strong opponents such as Newcastle should be valued highly. Having said that, it does still mean that the Robins have only won one of their last 14 matches in the Championship, placing them just one place and two points above the relegation zone.
The match against Newcastle was symptomatic of Bristol City this season in that they scored a decent number of goals but still could not produce a victory due to their poor defence which has conceded 50 goals in the league.
Away form has been poor for Lee Johnson’s men and they have not won away in the Championship since beating Fulham 4-0 back in late September. 10 points on the road this season is the joint second-worst in the division.
That victory against Derby, particularly the fact it was at home, was absolutely huge for Villa’s confidence and I think they will carry this into the match against Bristol City on Tuesday. With City’s poor away record, I expect The Villans to come out on top and are worth backing to do so at 23/20.
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