FA CUP SEMI-FINAL: The Striker previews CRYSTAL PALACE v ASTON VILLA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
CRYSTAL PALACE V ASTON VILLA
5.15pm It’s a massive weekend at Wembley with the FA Cup Semi-Finals on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE! We kick the weekend off with Crystal Palace clashing with Aston Villa – even with Manchester City still left in the competition, it feels quite open this season given the troubles City and Pep Guardiola have had this season. Nevertheless, what an opportunity for these two sides to get into a major Final.
Aston Villa come into the game as the favourites at 2.22 with Crystal Palace 3.65 and the draw is 3.5 at the time of writing. Both sides were involved in Premier League action during the week with their fixtures moved forward. Aston Villa suffered a massive blow in their Top Four hopes when losing to Manchester City – obviously they had a very tough fixture away from home and City did go into that game as the odds on favourites, but losing in injury time is always hard to take. Villa are on the backfoot now, however Arsenal beating Real Madrid in the Champions League Quarter-Final means the top five will get Champions League football, so there’s still plenty to play for!
Palace sit in mid-table after a terrible start, and they also had a tough away fixture midweek against Arsenal. There’s actually very little between the sides on performance levels here; Villa have an average xG created of 1.47 and Palace have a figure of 1.4. At the back Villa are marginally better too – they have an average xG conceded of 1.43 and Palace are on 1.47. Villa have struggled to create good quality chances this season, but their average xG created has been increasing with each passing game and week lately which is always a good sign.
This should be a good game – both sides play a quite open game so we should have an end-to-end affair. Palace have had a good run to get here, but you could easily say that they’ve had an easy draw – Stockport County, Doncaster Rovers, Millwall and Fulham isn’t the most difficult path here. Villa had their tougher games early, and then they picked up easy draws the last twice – West Ham, Spurs, Cardiff and Preston North End has been their trip here. Granted, everyone has beaten Spurs this season!
You get the feeling that this game comes at a very good time for Villa. They put in five Premier League wins in a row before bumping into Manchester City this week, and they came so close to getting a result here too. However, Palace did hammer them 4-1 back at the end of February before that run started. That would be a slight worry when backing Villa at the odds, but Unai Emery has Villa in top form at the moment, and I feel they are worth backing at 2.22 without going crazy with the stakes.
The Striker Says:
Two points win Aston Villa to beat Crystal Palace at 2.22 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/FACrAs
