Aston Villa vs Leicester best bets

Aston Villa will look to get 2025 off to the perfect start by picking up three points at home against struggling Leicester City.

Aston Villa will be looking to get 2025 off to the perfect start when they host struggling Leicester City at Villa Park in a Premier League Matchweek 20 clash on Monday, January 2nd, 2025.

Both teams will be desperate for some New Year cheer when they meet in this Midlands derby.

Starting with a look at Aston Villa, Unai Emery’s team are down to ninth in the Premier League. They sit on 29 points from 19 matches.

Furthermore, Villa has a negative goal difference of -3. The Claret and Blue has scored 28 and conceded 31.

In their last five in the Premier League, Villa has won two, lost two and drawn one.

Highlighting their defensive frailties, they have conceded in their last five in all competitions, and in 11 of their last 12 in the Premier League. Only bottom of the table Southampton has failed to breach the Villa back line in that run.

Villa is now starting to lose ground with the top four in the Premier League. They start the match week six points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who are themselves three matches without a win.

But in Unai Emery’s defence, his team has been fighting on two fronts. And in the Champions League, things are going very well for Villa.

The 1982 European Cup winners are fifth in the Champions League group on 13 points. They know two wins from their final two matches will guarantee them a place in the Round of 16.

And it’s this good form in Europe’s elite competition that has earnt Emery and his team plenty of grace from the Villa faithful, who fully understand how difficult it is to compete on two fronts at the very top level.

At home, Villa has been strong this season. They have won four, drawn four, and lost only once. The defeat was to Arsenal on Matchweek 2.

Results have been poor on the road. Villa has lost five on their travels. Included was their 3-0 Boxing Day defeat away to Newcastle.

That latest setback was followed by a 2-2 draw at home to Brighton on Monday. A match Villa will feel they should have won, given they were 2-1 up with ten minutes remaining.

Villa have a great opportunity to put that disappointment behind them when they face a Leicester team that looks to be in free fall.

After a reasonable start to the season, Leicester City have dropped into the bottom three in recent weeks.

The Foxes are 19th with 14 points from 19 matches. Possibly more worrying is they have now conceded 42 goals. That’s three more than bottom of the table Southampton and is the joint-worst record along with Wolves.

Furthermore, Leicester have lost their last four in the Premier League to an aggregate score of 12-1 under new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy

Van Nistelrooy took over from previous boss Steve Cooper, who was sacked following their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.

Although appointed on November 29th, the Dutchman didn’t take charge of the team in their 4-1 defeat to Brentford the following day. His first match in the dugout was the Foxes’ 3-1 win over West Ham.

Van Nistelrooy followed that win up with a 2-2 home draw against Brighton. And all of a sudden, after four points from his opening two matches in charge, there was optimism at the King Power Stadium.

But the honeymoon period was short lived. Four successive defeats have followed.

And with 19 goals conceded in the seven matches since Steve Cooper departed, there are now questions being asked about the club’s wisdom to dispense with his services as swiftly as they did.

Aston Villa vs Leicester betting tips

Leicester have conceded 15 goals in six matches under Ruud van Nistelrooy at an average of 2.5 goals per match. They conceded four in one match with no manager

They conceded 23 in 12 matches under Steve Cooper at a rate of 1.91 goals per match.

The tactical tweaks van Nistelrooy has made have only had a negative impact. The Foxes are simply conceding far too many goals. They are heading towards relegation.

Aston Villa has only lost once at home this season. They are on a winless run of two. We say they end that run by beating Leicester. Read more of our Aston Villa vs Leicester betting tips below:

Aston Villa (-1) to win on European handicap

It’s hard to imagine Aston Villa not beating Leicester. The Claret and Blue is due a win and Leicester are on a poor run of results.

A win for Villa in the 90 minute market is just 1/3. Villa has scored two goals or more in four of their last