Aston Villa v Crystal Palace Betting Tips [12 July 2020]

A 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Thursday night has left Aston Villa with just four games to salvage themselves from the drop. The hosts are 19th, four points from safety while their opponents Crystal Palace travel here on a run of four consecutive defeats and appear to be already on their holidays with a secure position in 14th attained. 

Dean Smith and Aston Villa could be set for an immediate return to the Championship but this game provides a real opportunity for them to turn their fortunes around. Palace are one of those sides with nothing to play for and without a crowd it’s easy to lose motivation anyway. Five of Villa’s seven league wins this season have come at Villa Park but are without a win here since January. Villa are without a win in 10 in the league and have lost eight of those matches during that run. Since the season resumed, they have lost four and drawn two of their six matches whilst scoring just twice. 

As for Palace they did show signs of attacking threat against Chelsea in midweek but ultimately went down 3-2 to slump to their fourth straight defeat. They resumed their campaign with a 2-0 win away at Bournemouth but since then have lost 4-0 to Liverpool and 3-0 to Leicester while on the road. The Eagles have won two of the last three meetings between these sides but both of those wins came at home and they haven’t won at this ground since 2013. 

Aston Villa have struggled for goals since returning to action and have looked toothless in attack while Palace have been held scoreless in each of their last two away games that’s why I fancy under 2.5 goals to be scored in this game.