Aston Villa visit Leeds United in the Championship on Sunday aiming to maintain their superb recent run of form.
Ten wins in a row has catapulted Villa up the table and they will be eager to continue in the same vein ahead of their upcoming play-off campaign.
Leeds have gone off the boil in recent weeks, winning just three of their last seven matches to drop out of the automatic promotion spots.
Marcelo Biela’s side are three points behind Sheffield United with two games remaining and now look set to join Villa in the play-offs.
Despite their recent from, Villa are priced at 16/5 to win at Elland Road and plenty of punters can be expected to sign up with this bet365 code to take advantage of what appear to be generous odds.
Striker Tammy Abraham has been ruled out of the game with injury, but Axel Tuanzebe returns to the matchday squad to boost Villa’s defensive options.
James Chester, Kortney Hause and Lovre Kalinic are also out injured, although all three players are closing in on a return to action.
The home side will be without Barry Douglas and Eunan O’Kane who remain on the sidelines, while Ezgjan Alioski has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign.
Villa boss Dean Smith called Leeds “the best side we’ve played” after they came back from two goals down to claim a stunning 3-2 stoppage-time win in the reverse fixture back in December.
Goals by Abraham and Conor Hourihane put Villa 2-0 in front at the break, but Jack Clarke, Pontus Jansson and Kemar Roofe hit back in the second half to secure a remarkable victory.
Smith’s side have beaten Leeds just once in their last five meetings in the Championship, but they will fancy their chances of improving on that record this weekend.
Villa have scored 80 goals in the league this season, while six goals conceded in their last 10 matches highlights that that Smith’s methods on the training ground are working.
Leeds have won only 10 of their 19 league games since December 29, having looked certainties for automatic promotion from the Championship prior to Christmas.
Marcelo Biela’s side endured a miserable time of things over Easter, losing 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic and 2-0 at Brentford.
While Leeds have floundered, Villa have been magnificent over the past couple of months and it’s difficult to imagine them not picking up at least a point this weekend.
With Leeds desperately needed a victory there could be plenty of goals, so backing Villa to win and both teams to score at odds of 11/2 looks an attractive proposition.
