Aston Villa vs Leicester City Prediction: 3/1 Watkins to open scoring in home win

Aston Villa have slid down the Premier League table after a tricky run of results during the festive period, but they have a great opportunity to get back to winning ways against struggling Midlands rivals Leicester at Villa Park on Saturday (15:00 KO).

Read on for my Aston Villa vs Leicester predictions, featuring the odds and team news at time of publication.

Aston Villa vs Leicester Odds

Aston Villa are 1/3 favourites to win this match, while a surprise Leicester victory is priced at 17/2. The draw is 9/2.

Goals are expected with over 2.5 goals available at 4/9 and under priced at 13/8.

Team News

Pau Torres could be out for up to two months for Aston Villa after he sustained a broken metatarsal against Brighton on Monday.

Jhon Duran is also sidelined for Aston Villa for violent conduct, while Morgan Rogers will also miss out after picking up his fifth yellow card of the Premier League season.

Diego Carlos and Jaden Philogene are also out but Matty Cash is back from a ban.

Leicester are set to welcome back Jordan Ayew from suspension but Mads Hermansen is still out with a groin issue, so Jakub Stolarczyk will deputise between the sticks.

Wout Faes could be back but Ricardo Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi and Abdul Fatawu are all out for Leicester.

Aston Villa to win and under 3.5 goals @ 5/4

Defeats away to Nottingham Forest and Newcastle hindered Aston Villa's progress in December and the congested nature of the Premier League standings means they have dropped as low as ninth as a result.

But at Villa Park, Emery's men have testing opponents, losing just one of their ten home league fixtures.

They conceded in the 81st minute to draw 2-2 with Brighton in their final match of 2024 but they should have few issues seeing off Leicester on Saturday.

The Foxes are winless in their last five games, losing their last four and drawing three blanks in the process.

There remains an overreliance on Jamie Vardy to score and they have leaked an eye-watering 42 goals in 19 matches.

But while Villa are a good bet to win this game, it is a derby and the hosts will approach it with caution.

They are missing key attacking personnel in Duran and Rogers, while the loss of Torres is a blow at the back.

For that reason, Villa are unlikely to overcommit and this could be a low-scoring contest with the hosts worth backing to win a match featuring under 3.5 goals.

Ollie Watkins to score first @ 11/4

With no Duran for this contest, the goalscoring responsibility for Villa will fall to star forward Ollie Watkins.

Watkins has at times been overshadowed by his Colombian deputy but he has netted eight goals in 19 league fixtures this season and he will be eager to show his class against rivals Leicester.

Watkins faces minimal competition in the goalscorer markets, so he is worth backing to score the first goal of the game.

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