Aston Villa in need of play-off boost as they face Derby County

Smith
Smith

Aston Villa go head-to-head with Derby County in the Championship on Saturday with their hopes of forcing their way into the play-offs fading fast.

Villa head into the game 13th in table, eight points off the top six with just 12 matches to play. Derby are 7th in the standings, two points behind sixth-placed Bristol City.

With both sides struggling for form in recent week Sky Sports’ pundit David Prutton believes Saturday’s game will be a low-scoring affair and has tipped to Villa to record a 1-0 win.

“It’s five without a win for Villa and they’ve slipped right off the play-off pace,” he said.

“They are running out of time now and will need to win the vast majority of their games now to have any chance whatsoever.

“Derby have gone off the boil completely. They were playing with so much zip earlier in the season but have looked completely flat lately, especially at Nottingham Forest on Monday night. I’ll back Villa here.”

Villa were impressive 3-0 winners at Pride Park earlier this season – John McGinn, Tammy Abraham and Conor Hourihane got the goals.

Derby haven’t won at Villa Park since a 2-1 success back in 1988.

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