talkSPORT tips – Best football bets and expert advice for Aston Villa v Man Utd

Aston Villa will hope to further underline their potential to be title challengers when they welcome an improved, but still hard to predict, Manchester United to Villa Park for Sunday’s sole Premier League offering.

Unai Emery’s Villa are the division’s form team, winning six league matches in a row and 10 of their last 11 to move into third place and firmly on the coattails of the top two, Arsenal and Manchester City.

United have sneaked into top-four contention after suffering just one defeat in 10, but the topsy-turvy nature of Monday’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth underlines there is still plenty of work for Ruben Amorim and his squad to do.

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Aston Villa v Man Utd betting tips

• Aston Villa to win @ 21/20
• Over 3.5 goals @ 8/5
• Morgan Rogers to score at any time @ 23/10

Consistent Villa can expose understrength United

After a slow start to the season that saw them go winless in their first six games, Villa are now in unprecedentedly good form, winning nine matches in a row across all competitions and 15 of their last 17 overall.

Last weekend’s come-from-behind win at West Ham underlined the belief oozing through Emery’s squad, and after beating Arsenal in their last home fixture, they should feel confident about seeing off an understrength United.

The Red Devils may have lost just once in 10, but it is also just two wins in seven for Amorim’s team, who since their eight-goal thriller with Bournemouth have seen Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo depart to represent their countries at the Africa Cup of Nations.

With Noussair Mazraoui having already jetted off for that competition, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire still sidelined through injury, and Casemiro suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season on Monday, United may not have the tools available to live with a rampant Villa.

Attack the best form of defence

Villa have scored two or more goals in eight of their last nine matches, only failing to reach that tally in a 1-0 win over the Premier League’s bottom club Wolves, which is also the only time they have kept a clean sheet in seven games.

A minimum of three goals have been scored in each of the Villans’ last four fixtures and that trend can continue against a United team that are themselves without a clean-sheet in nine, but they have netted four goals in their last two games against Wolves and Bournemouth.

Over 3.5 goals would have been a winning bet in four of the last eight meetings between this pair and, given attack seems to be the best form of defence for both at the moment, this could prove another high-scoring game.

Rogers a symbol for Villa’s surge

Morgan Rogers’ form has mirrored that of his club, as, after a relatively slow start to the season, the Villa star has caught fire of late, with eight goal involvements in his last 11 Premier League appearances.

The England international has scored five of those goals himself, including a brace against West Ham last weekend and, with United’s defensive-midfield linchpin Casemiro missing, Rogers could find the space to have a major say on Sunday. 

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