Ollie Watkins expected to increase tally with Leeds United not fancied at Aston Villa

LEEDS United will arrive at Friday night's hosts Aston Villa regarded as definite underdogs and with Ollie Watkins expected to add to his seasonal tally of five.
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Dean Smith's hosts only stayed up by a place and a point last season yet a storming start to the new campaign featuring four wins out of four has Villa as 13-10 favourites to beat Leeds.

Marcelo Bielsa's newly-promoted Whites are comfortably available at better than 2-1 with 25-11 the best price on offer whilst the draw is 13-5.

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Goals are most definitely expected with both teams to score 8-13 as opposed to 6-4 for either or neither side to find the back of the net.

MAIN THREAT: Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, above, is clear favourite to score first against Leeds United with the forward already on five goals for the season after his hat-trick against Liverpool. Photo by Rui Vieira - Pool/Getty Images.MAIN THREAT: Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, above, is clear favourite to score first against Leeds United with the forward already on five goals for the season after his hat-trick against Liverpool. Photo by Rui Vieira - Pool/Getty Images.
MAIN THREAT: Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins, above, is clear favourite to score first against Leeds United with the forward already on five goals for the season after his hat-trick against Liverpool. Photo by Rui Vieira - Pool/Getty Images.

And fresh from a hat-trick against champions Liverpool in his most recent outing at Villa Park, Watkins is seen as the clear main goal threat and 4-1 favourite to score first with Sky Bet and only 6-4 any time.

Thereafter, United's no 9 Patrick Bamford is joint second favourite to net first with Villa forward Keinan Davis at 11-2.

United's record signing Rodrigo is next at 13-2 followed by Villa duo Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley who are both 15-2 and just ahead of United's Raphinha and Tyler Roberts who are both 8s and the same price as Bertrand Traore.

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Villa duo Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet are then both 17-2 with teammates Conor Hourihane and John McGinn both 9s - the same odds as Pablo Hernandez.

United trio Helder Costa, Ian Poveda are all 10s - the same price as Villa's Jacob Ramsey - with Jack Harrison looking decent odds at 12s to net first and 4-1 as an any time scorer.

With so much attacking talent on display, it is no surprise that both teams to score is odds on and a 1-1 draw is actually favourite in the correct score market at 13-2.

But thereafter it is either a 2-1 win for the hosts (9-1) or a 1-0 Villa victory (37-4) that the layers most envisage with even a 2-1 triumph for Leeds on offer at 11-1.

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A repeat of Villa's stunning 7-2 scoreline in their win over Liverpool is not surprisingly enormous odds at 200-1 - with Leeds the same odds to win by the same score.

But whatever happens at Villa Park, few problems are anticipated for either side in the initial aim to stay in the division with United now as big as 14-1 to go down and Villa 25s.

Leeds has a fantastic story to tell - and the Yorkshire Evening Post has been rooted firmly at the heart of telling the stories of our city since 1890.

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Thank you Laura Collins

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