Championship side Aston Villa look to avoid a cup upset as they travel to League Two Colchester United in the 1st round of the English League Cup.
Colchester United
League Two Colchester United got their season off to a bad start, losing 3-1 away to Accrington Stanley at the weekend. It was a disappointing start to the campaign for a team who finished just one place, and one point, outside the promotion play-offs last season. While the league must be their priority, springing a cup surprise would build confidence among the players and bring in some much-needed revenue. They suffered a 4-0 defeat away at Brighton & Hove Albion at this stage of the competition last season, putting up a good fight until the now Premier League side showed their superiority in the last 25 minutes.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa are one of the favourites to be promoted from the Championship, but started their season off with a 1-1 draw at home to Hull City. It wasn’t the result manager Steve Bruce would have wanted although at least it wasn’t an opening day defeat. Gabby Agbonlahor opened the scoring and the new players settled in well, which are positives to take from the game.
Last season, in this competition, Villa suffered a shock defeat away to League Two Luton Town and will be keen to avoid suffering another loss to a team two divisions below them.
Head to Head
There is no head to head information available for this match, which means this is the first competitive meeting between the two.
Betting Odds and Predictions
- Aston Villa are rightly the favourites to pick up a victory over Colchester United here, and we predict it should be a comfortable one.
- The Championship side are priced at 8/15 with Coral. Colchester are 5/1 to cause a cup upset, and the draw is priced at 14/5.
- With the difference in quality between the sides, we think this should be an away victory by at least a couple of goals.
- So, backing Aston Villa with a -1 handicap could be a good bet at odds of 31/20. If you think they will win by a three-goal margin, it’s 4/1 with a -2 handicap.
- Colchester conceded two first half goals at the weekend, and Villa were leading 1-0 at half time. Therefore, the 29/20 for Aston Villa in the Half Time/Full Time markets looks good value.
- We think Villa will find the net at least a couple of times here, so Over 1.5 Goals is something we think is a banker at odds of 2/7. Over 2.5 Goals is priced at 20/23 and is worth a punt.
- As for who will score the goals, Agbonlahor netted at the weekend and is 13/8 to score anytime in the 90 minutes here. Scott Hogan is another solid option at odds of 13/10 to score anytime. An outside bet in the anytime scorer market is John Terry. The former England international has a reputation for scoring goals from set-pieces and provides a decent value option at odds of 13/2.
Top Betting Tip
We think Aston Villa will win this match convincingly, so our top betting tip is: Aston Villa to win with a -1 handicap at odds of 31/20 with Coral.