Premier League preview and odds: Sunderland vs Aston Villa

Published on: 31/12/2015

Premier League preview and odds: Sunderland vs Aston Villa

January 2, 2015 15:00pm - The Stadium of Light

Premier League

Sunderland will be keen to halt their run of five straight Premier League defeats on Saturday when they play host to bottom-of-the-pile Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland losing touch with safety

A fifth straight defeat has left Sunderland eight points adrift of safety (accounting for goal difference) in the Premier League. With just 12 points to show from the first half of the season, their chances of staying in the top flight look to be fading fast. A win against the leagues bottom club could give Sam Allardyce and his men a platform to build on going into the New Year.

They come into this game on the back of a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Liverpool which wrapped up a miserable December for the northeast club, in which they failed to gain a single point.

Little hope left for doomed Villa

After reaching the halfway point of the season with just eight points on the board, it appears that Aston Villa are destined for relegation to the Championship. New boss Remi Garde may have doubled the teams point total since he arrived but a lack of victories has seen the Villains lose pace with their relegation rivals.

They can at least close the gap on fellow strugglers Sunderland if they can somehow engineer a win on Saturday. If they can grab all three points for the first time since the opening day, they would move to within one point of their rivals. Over the last five matches only Sunderland and Manchester United have worse form than Aston Villa.

Team news

Villa are likely to be without Gaby Agbonlahor, Carlos Sanchez, Jordan Amavi and Gary Gardner, while Jores Okore could return subject to a fitness test.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Coates and Jack Rodwell have joined Adam Matthews, Younes Kaboul and Seb Larsson in the Sunderland treatment room.

Recent form (League)

Sunderland: LLLLL

Aston Villa: LDDLD

Betting odds and tips

Sunderland are enduring their worst run of form since early 2014 and looked destined to be relegated along with their opponents. A victory in this game could give each aide a glimmer of hope going forwards.

With both sides in such bad shape, they may just cancel each other out. The draw can backed at 9/4 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 31/12/2015

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (31/12/2015 12:40:51) but are subject to change.