In a slightly truncated round of the English Premier League, which is due to both the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the railway workers' strike, the Aston Villa-Southampton match attracts attention as the centerpiece of Friday's program. After six rounds played, bookmakers consider the opponents in Birmingham to be mid-tables to varying degrees, "giving" Southampton 11th place at the end of the season, with Aston Villa in 15th place. In the upcoming match, analysts have given the odds advantage to the hosts, considering the factor of their field to be one of the key ones.

Aston Villa acquired Camara, Dendonker, and Diego Carlos in the off-season and bought the rights to the previously loaned Coutinho from Barcelona. Nevertheless, a reasonably good transfer campaign has so far failed to produce decent results. In fact, after six league games, Villans can only claim credit for last weekend's 1-1 draw with Manchester City and a 2-1 home win over Everton. In the rest of the Premier League games, Steven Gerrard's charges were consistently losing. Diego Carlos was on sick leave after the second leg, while Coutinho has yet to play a full game or produce a result.

Southampton, unlike their upcoming opponents, have shown better readiness and cohesion on the pitch at the start of the season. "The Saints bought four Manchester City players in the off-season, with Bazunu and Lavia, more or less known to the general public, taking their places in Hasenhuttl's squad immediately. In fact, Southampton only failed in their opening Premier League game, when the team failed to withstand the pressure from Tottenham (1-4). Subsequently, the Saints showed a good level of play, beating Chelsea and Leicester and competing well in a losing encounter with Manchester United. Last round, Southampton lost 0-1 to Wolverhampton.

Hasenhuttl's side are in good form at the moment and certainly don't deserve a second straight defeat against a roughly equal opponent. We're betting the Southampton visitors can get at least one point at Villa Park.