Villans and Foxes in desperate Midlands melee for vital points

Premier League relegation chances Aston Villa (7/2) and Leicester City (11/10) lock horns in a ‘west meets east’ Midlands scrap, with both sides in the hunt for crucial points.

The duo have won just one of their last 10 games apiece in the top flight this term, with a draw a tempting 23/10 price with Coral here at Villa Park.

So desperate are the two clubs to earn points, that you can expect a high-scoring encounter, especially as four of their previous six head-to-heads produced four or more goals. There are enticing odds of 3/1 available for the match total to be over 3.5 once more.

But despite being so close to each other on the map and household names in football, Villa and Leicester have not met in over a decade in the Premier League, where the former were 5-0 away victors. While that scoreline in their favour again is a massive 150/1 price, Paul Lambert’s men are the 13/10 favourites to win once more.

It was the Foxes, who are currently at the base of the table, though, who came out on top in their last battle, in a 1-0 victory in the League Cup in 2007 at Villa Park. They are 23/10 shouts to win, and 17/2 to do so by that scoreline again.

Both clubs will be without some key players for this game, with Villa especially light at the back, as skipper Ron Vlaar, Philippe Senderos and Nathan Baker are still sidelined. Joe Cole is also out injured, while Andreas Weimann is to serve a one-match ban for picking up five yellow cards this season.

Nigel Pearson, meanwhile, will be without his captain Wes Morgan, who was sent off in widweek, and Dave Nugent is a doubt due to illness.

The England cap, though, is a 2/1 chance to score anytime if he is to feature. Argentine attacker Leonardo Ulloa is the Foxes favourites to net at 6/4, despite getting a goal in his last nine matches.

For the hosts, they will be hoping Christian Benteke can get on the scoresheet again, and the Belgian star striker is 9/2 to hit home first and 6/5 in the anytime market.