Saturday 6TH april: 15:00 KO
PREVIEW
Aston Villa seems to be hitting form at just the right time. After winning just 2 games from 15 between December and March, the Villains have now won the last 5 games, their best run of form this season. The next challenge? A couple of tricky away fixtures in the space of 4 days, starting at Sheffield Wednesday.
Wednesday, managed by former Villa manager Steve Bruce, is another team hopeful of making the playoff this season. They are currently unbeaten in the last 12 games. A victory for Bruce against his old employers would take his side within a point of Aston Villa. It’s incredibly tight in the Championship this season, with just 4 points separating 5th from 11th.
It’s anyone’s guess who will make the playoffs at this point, but hitting form at this time of the season will do the hopefuls no harm. Let’s take a look at what’s been going right recently for Aston Villa, starting with their return to goalscoring form.
FORM
Dean Smith’s side comes into this fixture having scored 13 goals in the last 5 games, averaging 2.60 goals per game. During this spell, they have kept 3 clean sheets, including impressive victories against Derby and Middlesborough. These results could prove to be crucial come the end of the season. Every point matters.
This is a vast improvement in form, as Villa failed to score in 3 of the previous 5 fixtures. They’ll have to continue this form if they’re to get something from Hillsborough.
Sheffield Wednesday has kept 3 clean sheets in the last 5 home games and has not tasted defeat in front of their own fans for 10 games, a run that spans back to November when they lost to Derby. There’s probably more onus on the home side here, so it will be interesting to see how Aston Villa approach this game.
More: Championship Form
PREDICTIONS
The combined season stats for these sides suggest that we might see a couple of goals in this game, with 74% of games ending with 2 or more goals being scored. There’s been an average of 3.21 goals per game this season when Aston Villa plays and 2.54 goals per game when Sheffield Wednesday take the field.
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HEAD TO HEAD
The last 5 matches between Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa have produced mixed results, with 3 victories for Sheffield Wednesday and 2 for Aston Villa. 4 of the 5 games has seen 2 or more goals being scored and the last 3 meetings have all ended with both teams scoring.