Aston Villa vs Man United Bet Builder Tips: 25/1 shot for more United misery

Aston Villa and Manchester United had very different European experiences in midweek. Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 on Wednesday night, as Unai Emery achieved one of the best results in their history, while United rescued a late draw against Porto in the Europa League. 

Bruno Fernandes picked up another red card, his second in two games, but is available to play this weekend after a successful appeal, while Erik ten Hag is coming under increasing pressure after another poor performance. It means Sunday’s game at Villa Park (14:00, Sky Sports Main Event) takes on extra importance ahead of the international break and below you can find my Aston Villa vs Man United Bet Builder Tips.

This is all fairly straightforward in my opinion. Manchester United are a poor outfit right now under Ten Hag, and I’m not sure a trip to Villa Park is going to improve things. Their defence is all over the shop, and the arrival of Matthijs de Ligt doesn’t actually seem to have helped them out. He was caught out as Micky van de Ven sped past him last weekend, and then he was battered by Porto’s Samu Omorodion on Thursday night.

I’m not picking him out for individual criticism for no reason, but he was signed by the new regime which was meant to improve things for the club. So far, that improvement is not showing on the pitch, and this looks to be another rough start to the campaign. Having taken Marcus Rashford off at half-time to save him for this one, Ten Hag has come under more fire as he side threw away a two-goal lead. It would be a surprise to see him last the full season at this stage, and Villa are looking just as good as they did last term. 

It should be another cracking atmosphere at Villa Park, albeit a couple of decibels below what they produced against Bayern Munich. But Villa just look the better side right now, they have had an extra days rest and they didn’t have to travel unlike Sunday’s opponents. It leads me to believe the home side should come out on top, while I’ll also back them to keep a clean sheet. United may have looked strong in an attacking sense against Porto, but they have failed to score against Crystal Palace, Spurs and Liverpool and I think Villa can keep them at bay, having limited Harry Kane and Bayern to only a handful of chances. 

The next pick for this bet builder is Jhon Duran to score. He has remarkably scored six goals in nine games in all competitions this season, with eight of those appearances coming from the bench. He basically comes on around the 70th minute mark and finds the net every week, with his long-range strike against the German giants the latest in what is becoming an ever-impressive catalogue of goals. Emery may have to find a way to get both him and Ollie Watkins into the team soon, and it could happen this weekend. 

Even if he doesn’t start, backing Duran to score is a relatively good pick at this moment in time, given his superb form. Our final selection, to take this up to 25/1, is Manuel Ugarte to pick up a yellow card. He was left on the bench in Porto which leads me to believe he will start this one, and United need the combative midfielder to get stuck in at Villa Park. He got seven yellows in all competitions for PSG last season, but in a more competitive league and with more defending to do, I’d expect that number to rise significantly. He was booked against Spurs, and I think he will find himself in the referee’s notebook once more here. 

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