Aston Villa have been involved in consecutive 3-2 thrillers - but their match against West Ham United on Saturday could be more towards the other end of the goalscoring scale.
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The Tim Sherwood-inspired revival at Villa Park shows no signs of drawing to a halt and as well as the FA Cup Final against Arsenal on May 30, it looks increasingly likely that there will be another season of Premier League football to look forward to.
It may have been a bit galling for Sherwood and his players to find that, after last weekend’s 3-2 win over Everton, they had not really made a great deal of progress in the table due to the victories of fellow relegation battlers Sunderland, Leicester and West Brom.
But at least, from Villa’s perspective, Newcastle are right in it now as well and if opponents at this stage of the season could be hand-picked, West Ham would be pretty close to the top of the list.
That’s even though the Hammers also won last weekend, edging a 1-0 victory at home to Burnley via a Mark Noble penalty midway through the first half after Michael Duff had been contentiously sent off for a foul on Cheikhou Kouyate.
Mark Noble of West Ham United in action (Getty Images)
And it’s something of a reflection on West Ham that they were unable to add further goals despite their one-man advantage against a side who are doomed to relegation.
Sam Allardyce’s team are a long way removed from the bright, effective outfit they were in the first half of the season and it looks likely to be another summer of change at Upton Park, probably in the managerial hotseat with David Moyes strongly linked.
For the last few months West Ham have been going through the motions and if they are stale against a vibrant, upwardly mobile side like Villa then there will probably only be one outcome.
But would we want to take Evens about the home side? Frankly, that looks a bit short because we are not yet convinced by them defensively and they have not kept a clean sheet at home in the league since New Year’s Day.
That may not be the portent of a goalfest, but it’s a bigger price for the final score to contain a nil than it is for Villa to win and that appears to offer the better value.
Recommended bets:
Under 2.5 Goals
