Aston Villa vs Sunderland Pre-Match Thread

[Legion]

2-1.

0-1 down before HT to a Bennett og, then Weimann to make it 1-1 straight after the break and Benteke to wrap it up midway through the second half.

[rob_bridge]

Draw I reckon followed by a win at Narwich.

We need Spuds, Albion, Swans and Arse to beat Wigan. then we'll be safe

 

[Marcelino Smith]

I wonder what the attendance will be?

[neo_Villan]

Yeah I'll go for a win too. 2-0. Think Benteke will score again after his two game drought. In fact, got the feeling he will bag both. If not, Gabby with the other. Think we will get an early goal too.                                                                                                  I hope we stick with 4-3-3 as we look most balanced in that formation. My team would be: Guzan/Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Baker/ Westwood, Delph, KEA/Gabby, Benteke, Weimann

[neo_Villan]

I wonder what the attendance will be?

Will probably be affected due to it being on Monday. If we can get at least 36-37k then that'll have to do.

[Toronto Villa]

I think we'll tear into this lot from the start and win 3-1.

[robbo1874]

This is the first match this season I've viewed as 'must-win'. I suppose technically its not points-wise, but if we win, I think we'll survive, if we lose or draw it could be curtains unfortunately.

I think it will be an absolute battle, but we'll win.

[Fin Feds Dad]

2-0 Villa - Benteke & Gabby

[Damo70]

The bookies have it down to us or Wigan, can't believe the odds they are offering on Sunderland. Team selection is crucial for this game, pretty football will come second to the team willing put their bodies on the line and close down the opposition for ninety minutes, lose this and i believe we will go down win it and we will get out of this mess, Lamberts waterloo.

The bookies have Wigan as slight odds on to go down and us slight odds against. Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich and Newcastle are all 100/1. That shook me up a bit when I saw the odds yesterday but I look forward to them being very different in a weeks time. I think that if we beat Sunderland and Norwich we will be safe without needing anything from the Wigan game by the time it comes around.

[saunders_heroes]

The bookies have it down to us or Wigan, can't believe the odds they are offering on Sunderland. Team selection is crucial for this game, pretty football will come second to the team willing put their bodies on the line and close down the opposition for ninety minutes, lose this and i believe we will go down win it and we will get out of this mess, Lamberts waterloo.

The bookies have Wigan as slight odds on to go down and us slight odds against. Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich and Newcastle are all 100/1. That shook me up a bit when I saw the odds yesterday but I look forward to them being very different in a weeks time. I think that if we beat Sunderland and Norwich we will be safe without needing anything from the Wigan game by the time it comes around.

Don't the bookies just make the teams  who are in the relegation zone at any given time the favourites to go down?

[pauliewalnuts]

The bookies have it down to us or Wigan, can't believe the odds they are offering on Sunderland. Team selection is crucial for this game, pretty football will come second to the team willing put their bodies on the line and close down the opposition for ninety minutes, lose this and i believe we will go down win it and we will get out of this mess, Lamberts waterloo.

The bookies have Wigan as slight odds on to go down and us slight odds against. Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich and Newcastle are all 100/1. That shook me up a bit when I saw the odds yesterday but I look forward to them being very different in a weeks time. I think that if we beat Sunderland and Norwich we will be safe without needing anything from the Wigan game by the time it comes around.

Don't the bookies just make the teams  who are in the relegation zone at any given time the favourites to go down?

No, the prices are shaped by the amount of money on the outcomes.

So, if Reading spend three months in the drop zone, over that time, lots of people will be betting money on them to go down. As this happens, the risk management software used by the bookies will reduce the prices offered automatically to limit their exposure should Reading actually go down.

I am sure some bookmakers will still operate in the traditional way, ie a room full of blokes who don't shower enough and only ever think about sport, adjusting and fine tuning odds, but these are a dying breed nowadays. These days, it is pretty much all done by software rather than by human intervention.

There's a common misconception that the bookies are tweaking prices to reflect what they think will happen, ie they've got particularly large football brains and pay close attention to what is going on from week to week, but that's really not the case.

With the range of markets you can bet on these days, ie next manager to leave, player's club next season, name of new manager etc etc, there's really far too much going on from day to day for there to be any real human input at the bookie's.

Some of those markets only take relatively piddling amounts of money, anyway, so it really only takes a pretty small bet by someone to cause the odds to fluctuate wildly.

[Ron Manager]

The more I think about this game the more I think that Agbonlahor will be our key player. If he is on his game we have a chance. If not we will have to hope that Weimann hits his again. Benteke needs to up his work rate now that he is known as a big threat to opposition defences.

If we lose or even draw it will be a very black night indeed!

[darren woolley]

A 1-1 draw for me Benteke scoring for us.

[dekko]

Its the closest we've come to an absolute-stone-cold-must-win-last-chance relegation six pointer so far.  A draw wouldnt be the worst result if Wigan lose, but time, games and points are running out fast.

That said, I reckon 2-2, with our nerves to be shredded for another week.

[ASHTONVILLA]

3-2 to the Villa. Benteke, Agbonlahor and Bent in injury time (late substitute) for us, and two OGs.

If we win this one we will stay up, and we have been winning the games against fellow strugglers lately.