Aston Villa v Swansea preview: Villains target fourth straight win

Aston Villa are targeting a fourth win on the spin, with Swansea the visitors to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Villains' revival under Tim Sherwood continues to pick up pace with last week's first-half four-goal salvo at Sunderland providing a real sense of belief that they can put some distance between themselves and the drop zone over the coming weeks.

The return to form of strike duo Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor has come at just the right time, with both men having scored three in their last two league games.

Swansea travel to the Midlands without a win in three but have pushed Liverpool and Tottenham hard in their last two games, narrowly beaten on both occasions.

Garry Monk has set his side the target of beating their previous best Premier League points total of 47 points, set in 2011-12 under Brendan Rodgers. The Swans are well on course to do so with just another eight points from the next nine games required.

Team news

Alan Hutton will return to the Aston Villa squad after completing his ban but Tim Sherwood remains without skipper Ron Vlaar.

The captain remains sidelined with a calf problem and is out along with Philippe Senderos and Kieran Richardson (both calf), Nathan Baker (knee) and Aly Cissokho (groin).

Libor Kozak is training with the first team after recovering from a broken leg but is not match fit although Jack Grealish is back from suspension.

Central defender Federico Fernandez is available for Swansea after missing Monday night's 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool.

Fernandez returned home to Argentina for what manager Garry Monk described as "family reasons" and he was replaced by Jordi Amat at the heart of the Swansea defence.

But Fernandez has trained this week and is set to resume his partnership with skipper Ashley Williams, while Monk has no new injury worries for the Villa Park clash.

Opta facts

Swansea City have lost just one of their seven Barclays Premier League meetings with Aston Villa (W3 D3 L1).

Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor have scored in two of their last three Premier League appearances against Swansea City.

Swansea’s last three Premier League away wins have all been by a 1-0 scoreline.

Villa have scored more goals in their last two Premier League matches (6) than they managed in the previous 13 (5).

No Villa manager has won three Premier League games in a row since Martin O’Neill in April 2010.

Only Everton (17) have dropped more points from winning positions than Swansea City this season (16).

Merson's prediction

Villa will have looked at Burnley’s match with Manchester City and thought they would have been more than just three points from safety after their own great win at Sunderland last week, and six points clear is a lot more of a cushion than three. I do worry a bit for Villa in this fixture as their fans will, for the first time this season, be turning up at Villa Park expecting their team to get a result.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1

Betting

Three wins on the bounce has prompted Sky Bet to make Aston Villa 11/8 favourites against Swansea on Saturday, with Garry Monk’s men 21/10 for the victory.  Last week's thumping win at Sunderland helped ease Villa's relegation odds to 11/2 from 2/1.  Christian Benteke or Gabriel Agbonlahor to score in a home win is available at 9/4 and 11/4 respectively, while another win to nil is priced at 11/4. Swansea are without a victory in three but secured a 1-0 success in the corresponding fixture in December and a repeat of that scoreline is available at 13/2.