Aston Villa vs Swansea City Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 14, 2015 @ 01:45 pm

Under fire Tim Sherwood was rumoured to have 2 games to save his job and after a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in his alleged first, a lot could be resting on the visit from Swansea City. The Welsh club haven’t won since August and picked up just 2 points in 5 Premier League games.

Aston Villa have been flirting with the relegation zone for the past couple of years and the expectation at the club has always been high. Tim Sherwood looked to be the man they’d be crying out for after Paul Lambert was relieved of his duties but despite guiding them to safety and reaching an FA Cup final, Sherwood has been quickly turned on by the fans after a terrible start to the season. They haven’t won in the Premier League since the opening day of the season against Bournemouth and Sherwood is more desperate than anyone for his side to string a win together. The club spent the money that was raised from the sales of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph but they’ve not acclimatised to the Premier League and lack the experience to grind out results.

Garry Monk got the season off to a flyer after 8 points from a possible 12 but have picked up just 2 points since with home draws against Everton and Tottenham. The latest home match against Stoke City on Monday night was a chance for them to reignite their season but they laboured to a 1-0 defeat and the fans will start to feel slightly concerned. If the poor run of form continues Monk will be the latest Premier League manager to have the media speculating about his future as manager of the Welsh club with the managerial merry-go-round in full swing with Sunderland and Liverpool already changing managers. The willingness for owners to give the manager’s time to turnaround results is slowly deteriorating and the need for instant success is ever growing with the sheer amount of money Premier League status brings.

Aston Villa have lost their last 5 Premier League matches in a row whilst Swansea City haven’t won away in the league for 5 games. The Villa fans are growing increasingly frustrated at the performances as well as the results with the claret and blue side scoring just 2 goals in 4 home matches in the league. Swansea’s reliance on Gylfi Sigurdsson, Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis for the goals was again present in the defeat to Stoke as the trio have scored all of Swansea’s Premier League goals between them.

Sherwood will want a full side to select from in what could ultimately be his final game as Villa boss. Gabby Agbonlahor’s speed to stretch teams has been missing for the past few weeks with a calf injury and he’ll be chomping at the bit to contribute to a vital win for the home side. Adama Traore came off the bench in the Chelsea defeat on his return from injury and is likely to be thrown into the starting 11 with what’s riding on the game for his boss.

Swansea are the only side in the league to have no players out with injury which seems uncanny that even with a full strength squad to choose from they can’t buy a win. Monk could mix things up to stop the rot but a very similar starting 11 were performing so well at the start of the season.

Aston Villa

Stats: W-1 L-7 D-1

Recent Form - LWLLL

Swansea City

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-4

Recent Form - DLLDL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Aston Villa(4-2-3-1) – Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Amavi, Gueye, Westwood, Sinclair, Traore, Grealish, Gestede.

Swansea City (4-2-3-1) – Fabianski, Angel Rangel, Williams, Fernandez, N.Taylor, Cork, Shelvey, Montero, Sigurdsson, A.Ayew, Gomis.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Aston Villa – Clark (inj), Agbonlahor (inj), Okore (inj), Gardner (inj)
Swansea City – None.

Aston Villa v Swansea Head to Head

League Positions