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Aston Villa v Crystal Palace betting tips

Premier League football returns to a wider audience when Aston Villa entertain Crystal Palace at 3pm on BBC One. The hosts are starting to accumulate points following a rough patch while Palace will be looking to bounce back from a 7-0 humiliation by Liverpool.

That was a remarkable game that summed up the madness of this season pretty well. Palace had enjoyed a good few weeks before that and the Reds were struggling somewhat; out of nowhere came a 7-0 away win, all the more bizarre given that the Eagles played fairly well in the first-half.

What we have here is a meeting between Villa and Palace teams who have hardly been inspiring with their respective home and away records. Since their 7-2 win over Liverpool (again, this Premier League season) Villa have picked up just one point from four home games; a welcome 0-0 draw with Burnley given that they had conceded nine goals in the three home games prior.

Palace lost to nil at Burnley and Wolves but those games came in between victories at Fulham and West Brom. Even the draw at West Ham in their last away outing could have ended in victory as they enjoyed the better of the chances. It’s important to point out that even though they lost by seven in their last game, Palace are not a bad side. It was a freak result – not altogether uncommon for any team this term.

Villa’s home form is probably best summed up by defeat against Brighton, that win being the only successful outcome for Albion across their last 13 in all competitions. Dean Smith’s side clearly need to improve at Villa Park, and we shouldn’t rule out Palace based on one result.

The context of Villa’s record on their own patch is that they have won just one of four games against teams in the bottom-seven of the table. That was a 1-0 win over a Sheffield United side that played more than an hour with 10 men, and have since moved on to just two points after 14 games.

Palace need a response. Roy Hodgson’s team will have been spending the week regathering themselves and ensuring they are far more organised this time out. Who knows, if Jordan Ayew hadn’t put the ball behind Wilfried Zaha early on against Liverpool it could have been a very different story.

You can get close enough to even money if you shop around on Villa not to win this game, with most bookmakers going to 5/6 or 10/11.

Even with last week’s result, I’m willing to put my faith in Palace to bounce back with at least a point.

Score prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace (Sky Bet odds: 6/1)

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Opta facts

• Aston Villa have won just one of their…