Aston Villa v Stoke Tip

This will not be a classic. Even though Stoke are on a fine run and Villa are showing signs of life themselves, goals remain at a premium in matches involving either, let alone both.

The good news is that bookies price up the under 1.5 goals in the match market pretty consistently, with minimal regard for the teams involved. That makes it easy to find our value here with StanJames providing best odds of 9/4.

Fixtures involving the Potters have generally looked pretty turgid for a while now. The combination of a mean defence and an often blunt attack are ideal for this wager, if not the spectators! In fairness to Tony Pulis, his boys normally get one and that’s frequently enough; Stoke have won four of their last six fixtures 1-0. This season, they have also had three 0-0 draws and one 1-0 loss, all of which would have won us this bet.

The Villains have looked pretty toothless themselves up front for much of 2012-13 with the Darren Bent saga continuing to make headlines. However, Paul Lambert is starting to get things right at the other end. Saturday’s hosts have only conceded one goal in their last three to get an unbeaten run going.

It feels like it could go either way, by the odd goal, or it may remain a grizzly stalemate throughout. Either way, we could win money at respectable odds.