Burton Albion v Aston Villa Betting Tips: Villans to make it five in a row

This match is somewhat of a Midlands derby with arguably the smallest club in the division, Burton Albion, hosting possibly the division’s biggest club, Aston Villa.

Burton lost narrowly to league leaders Newcastle United on Wednesday night but it is still fair to say that they are on a decent run at the moment with just three defeats in their last nine matches. Overall, this puts them 19th in the table and four points above the drop-zone. This is obviously not the biggest cushion but, if they carry on their good form, they should be safe – a remarkable achievement.

Nigel Clough’s men may have lost two of their last three but, actually, they have generally been very good at the back in the last few weeks with four clean sheets in those aforementioned nine matches. This solidity at the back means that their general lack of goals (40 in 40 games) is compensated, enabling Burton to pick up results.

The Brewers lost their last match at the Pirelli Stadium in a thrilling encounter against Brentford which ended in a 5-3 score-line. Before that however, Burton had been on a very good run at home with no losses and ten points taken from a possible 12. However, it is certainly worth mentioning that Clough’s side only kept one clean sheet in those matches and scored just six goals. It will be interesting to see how they cope against a Villa side in form.

Aston Villa are the form team of the Championship at the moment having taken 21 points from their last eight matches – winning all but one of their matches. From the outside looking in, it looks too late for Villa to make a charge for the play-offs but, with them being in such good form, you never know. They are nine points behind with 18 still to play for.

The Villains have been absolutely brilliant at the back in recent times and have conceded just one goal in their last eight games and even that came over a month ago. They do not score that many going forward but their amazing defensive performances recently has meant they have not had to.

However, much of this fantastic run has come at Villa Park and Steve Bruce’s team have struggled on the road with seven defeats in their last nine. Having said that, they have picked up a bit recently on their travels with three wins in their last two.

Even though they have not been great throughout the course of the season, particularly away from home, Villa have clearly turned a corner in the last month and so confidence will be sky high. Burton will no doubt provide a tough test for the visitors but I expect them to come out on top in the end. 13/10 about an away win is worth getting behind here.

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