Premier League Betting: Southampton vs. Aston Villa

Amir G. - May 16, 2015

Sports

Southampton goes up against Aston Villa in a bid to secure a place in the Europa League (kickoff 12:45 UK time).

Gameweek 37 of the English Premier League starts today with an intriguing meeting between Southampton and Aston Villa (kickoff 12:45 UK time). With the title chase over and done with after Manchester City lost the race to top-rated Chelsea, now is the time for second and third bests, and in this game's case – a battle of points on who gets to go to the Europa League next season.

Southampton's Do-or-die

Currently positioned seventh in the table with 57 points composed of 17 wins, 7 draws and 12 losses, Southampton is only one point away from Tottenham and five from Liverpool. The team is without a win for four matches (having lost three). With that in mind, Ronald Koeman's side simply cannot miss their chance of gaining three points today – it's do-or-die.

Big Times for Aston Villa

Aston Villa has shown good improvement since the arrival of new manager Tim Sherwood. They are positioned 14th in the table with 38 points (10w, 8d, 18l). Southampton has a good reason to be very wary of Villa's current form as they've managed to beat Tottenham, Everton and West Ham in their last four games; their 3-2 loss against Manchester City was lost by a shattering late-game goal.

While Villa isn't near any spot for the Europa League, they do have a huge game in front of them next Saturday – the FA Cup final against Arsenal. This will be a good preparation and test, but being only 4 points away from the relegation zone, they don't want zero points out of today's meeting.

Live Betting

Today's match will be live at bet365 Sports with a wide range of pre-match and in-play betting markets that constantly update and shift as the game takes place. Full time results gave 3/4 to Southampton, 4/1 to Aston Villa and 13/5 for a draw.

Punters can take advantage of bet365's Euro Soccer Bonus offer that can earn them up to 100% on their return for pre-match accumulators. In case the game ends a goalless draw, the Bore Draw Money Back offer will refund Half-Time/Full-Time and Scorecast bets.