Championship action continues on Friday night, with Bristol City welcoming Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa to Ashton Gate. Bristol City have made a solid start to the new Championship campaign, picking up five points from their opening four encounters under Lee Johnson.
Bristol City Team News
Having narrowly avoided relegation to League One at the end of last season, City are looking for a much more successful campaign this time around, with their home record undoubtedly one of their most important assets. Despite a goalless draw against Millwall last time around, City comfortably overcame Barnsley in their opening home fixture of the season. New signing Famara Diedhiou will once again start up front for City, with the Senegalese international having joined for a club record fee over the summer. Elsewhere, the likes of Cauley Woodrow and Niclas Eliasson will be hoping for their first starts since joining from Fulham and IFK Norrkoping respectively. City have scored six goals and conceded five in their opening Championship fixtures, with Johnson keen to answer his critics who have questioned his position over recent months.
Aston Villa Team News
Despite having been one of the favourites for promotion at the start of the season, Aston Villa have certainly not hit the ground running, even with the leadership skills of John Terry now in their ranks. Steve Bruce added significantly to his playing squad over the summer, with their recent win over Norwich City perhaps their most impressive performance of the season to date. Midfielder Conor Hourihane scored a hat-trick in the game, with youngster Keinan Davis also impressing. With Scott Hogan still struggling for goals following his arrival from Brentford last season, Davis could well continue to lead the line at Ashton Gate on Friday night. Former Bristol City man Albert Adomah will also be hoping to feature against his old club.
Head to Head
The two teams picked up a win each from their two Championship meetings last season, with City enjoying a 3-1 success at Ashton Gate, before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at Villa Park. Overall, Villa have got the better of City over the years, winning 20 of their meetings, while only losing 10.
Betting Odds and Predictions
There are a whole host of available betting markets surrounding this match, and with little separating the two teams at the start of the season, this is an encounter that is difficult to predict. For those backing a home win for Bristol City, William Hill offer best odds of 6/4, which given their home record, could well be worth taking advantage of.
Meanwhile, with Villa having shown significant signs of improvement last time around, betting on the away side to claim all three points is also an attractive option, with bookmakers 10Bet offering odds of 9/5 for this outcome.
Finally, with Aston Villa having normally being involved in high scoring matches, with Bruce’s men having scored six and conceded eight goals so far, betting on their being over 2.5 goals could well prove to be a fruitful option. Ladbrokes offer odds of 21/20 for this market.
Top Betting Tip
Our top betting tip for the match between Bristol City is to back both teams to score, which can be found at best odds of 4/5 at Ladbrokes.