West Brom v Aston Villa Odds : Both sides look to emerge from mid-table obscurity with win in West Midlands derby
West Brom are placed as 6/5 favourites by Paddy Power to emerge triumphant against Aston Villa in the West Midlands derby and apply pressure to teams in the top half of the table.
Both West Brom and Aston Villa have had steady starts to the season but both sides will be looking to breakthrough into the top half of the table with a win in the West Midlands Derby.
West Brom |
11/10 |
Draw  |
12/5 |
Aston Villa |
3/1 |
West Brom have continued with the solid form that helped them impose themselves on the Premier League last season and The Baggies find themselves in 11th place after the opening eleven games.
Steve Clarke will be glad to see several of his main attacking players returning to full fitness with veteran striker Nicolas Anelka expected to start for the first time in three games.
There could be a place on the bench for on-loan winger Scott Sinclair who has been struggling with a hamstring problem for the past six weeks.
The Baggies are also expected to start Chris Brunt, Gareth McAuley and Boaz Myhill on Monday night even though all three players withdrew from international duty last week.
With Steve Clarke having a full squad to choose from, The Baggies boss will be hoping to steer his side into remaining unbeaten in the West Midlands derby against Aston Villa for the sixth time in the league.
However, that won’t be easy for a rejuvenated Aston Villa side who have turned their fortunes around and sit level with their local rivals with just goal difference separating them in the table.
Villa boss Paul Lambert will be pleased to see the return of several of his top offensive players with both
Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann both overcoming the injuries that had ruled them out of fixtures before the international break.
On top of that, Christian Benteke is also likely to feature in some way for Aston Villa despite having to withdraw from the Belgium squad last week with a knee problem.
There could also be roles for both Antonio Luna and Fabian Delph who are both facing late fitness tests to see whether they are fit to make the short trip to The Hawthorns.
If Aston Villa are going to have an impact on tomorrow night’s game, they will need to break their goal drought as they haven’t scored in four of their last five games although their record of 3 clean sheets in the last five will provide some solace for Villa fans.
The West Midlands Derby will be a tight affair although both West Brom and Aston Villa will be keen for the win and help them close the gap to the teams sitting in the top half of the table.
