Watch Aston Villa vs Manchester United and Brighton vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports this weekend; play Super 6 to win £500,000!
Saturday 5 October 2024 17:36, UK
Our football betting expert Jones Knows is back to provide his insight on Sunday's Premier League fixtures, including Aston Villa vs Man Utd.
Nottingham Forest won't be as welcoming as Brighton were last weekend for Chelsea, who showed great tactical understanding to pick their way through what was a mess of a Brighton defence.
Enzo Maresca is ticking along nicely with a team growing in confidence having won their last five games in all competitions. It's not perfect, far from it, but winning is a great habit.
Chelsea are fancied to edge this but Forest's defensive process under Nuno Espirito Santo deserves more respect than the markets are giving them here.
In the 27 games since his appointment, only Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool have a better expected-goals-against output than Forest (1.24 per 90) and they've only conceded two or more goals in five of their last 20 matches across all competitions. The under 2.5 goals line at 6/4 with Sky Bet should give punters a great run.
Manchester United make my job exceptionally difficult. I feel your pain, Erik.
Who knows which team will turn up at Villa Park? Even the manager doesn't.
But, this could be a great spot for United if they're at it.
Aston Villa expended so much physical and emotional energy on Wednesday night in a performance and result for the ages against Bayern Munich - a night that yet again showcased what a master tactician Unai Emery is.
But they might not have to be anywhere near that level to win if the United from the first half against Tottenham show up.
Just do the basics and you can beat this Ten Hag team.
The result market is a minefield but Youri Tielemans provides a betting angle. He is quickly becoming one of the best midfielders in the Premier League based on his early-season performances and he's 7/2 with Sky Bet to register what would be his fourth assist of the season already.
He looks in full flow playing in this role where he is given licence to join attacks and also be a playmaker from deep. His rising influence seen by the fact he's having almost 20 more touches per game than last season, completing 1.4 more passes in the final third and most importantly, is creating 2.2 chances per game.
Two high lines. Two attack-minded managers.
Bring your hard hats, this could get dangerously exciting.
It's a shame the markets are completely aligned with the prospects of goals. The over 3.5 goals line is trading at odds-on (10/11 with Sky Bet), so we have to get a bit more creative to hunt out a winner.
Step forward Dejan Kulusevski - a player who has rewarded followers of my tipping endeavours over the years and he's in the kind of form where he's a bet once again.
I love the role he's playing in this Tottenham midfield where Rodrigo Bentancur is providing the security at the base and Kulusevski and James Maddison are given licence to create in dangerous areas.
The Swede was phenomenal last weekend at Old Trafford, creating seven chances in the impressive win and scoring with a clever finish. The 11/8 with Sky Bet for him to score or assist is begging to be backed.
