Aston Villa v West Ham Tip

The anytime goalscorer market has a few interesting options to consider as the Premier League’s two claret and blue teams go into battle on Sunday.

Christian Benteke leads the betting at a best price of 33/20 (Sportingbet) which seems fair enough when you consider that he has scored five goals in his last four appearances. Not bad at all for a 22-year-old who has been a rare shining light in a struggling team. I’m sorely tempted by this option but, on balance, I’m just going to favour one of his opponents.

Andy Carroll celebrated his return to the West Ham starting line-up with the winning goal against Swansea last weekend and the Liverpool loanee is 9/4 (BetVictor) to make it two in a row at Villa Park. Reasonable, but again I’m just about opting out in favour of Kevin Nolan - an 11/4 option with Skybet.

The Hammers skipper scored the only goal when these sides met back in August to take his tally to five against the Villains. Some players just get into a groove against certain teams and that certainly seems to be the case here.

Nolan is likely to get opportunities from Andy Carroll flick-ons and the sort of late runs into the box that have tormented Paul Lambert’s players all season. The 30-year-old found the net in West Ham’s last away game which took his total to six league goals for the campaign - the best record at the club. At the price he looks like a worthy value bet.