Chelsea play Aston Villa at home on 23rd December and currently the bookmakers are offering odds of 1/3 on a Chelsea win, 9/1 on Aston Villa, and 19/4 on a draw. The question is whether it is worth betting against a home win by Chelsea against Villa.

If you simply take account of previous games between these sides rather than recent form, then there are plenty of good reasons for going with a 9/1 bet on Aston Villa. In their last 72 games played at Chelsea’s ground, Chelsea has won just half of them. Aston Villa has won 31%, and 19% of them ended in a draw.

To bet on Villa to need to either be a fan, or to have a greater insight than the bookmakers, if not then you might be better advised to stake your cash at your favourite online casino (like http://www.riverbellecasino.com/. If you are new to online casinos then don’t hesitate to switch from a bet on the game to a bet on the table – it’s just as easy as using an online bookies. Pick up your smartphone and you’re halfway to the slots already! If you can’t resist to bet on the EPL though and if you think that you can outwit the bookmakers, then odds of 9/1 are very favourable.

However such long range statistics don’t give a clear picture of the current status of the teams; for that we need to weight the averages towards recent games. In the 2011/12 season Chelsea beat Aston Villa at home and away with score lines of 1-3 and 4-2 respectively. In the 2010/2011 season both Premier games between the two clubs resulted in draws and in the 2009/2010 season Chelsea beat Aston Villa 7/1 at home and lost 2-1 away. They also played each other that season in an FA cup match and again Chelsea won 3-0.

In terms of the Premier League table, Chelsea is currently in third place with 29 points, three more than fourth place Everton and thirteen points fewer than league leaders Manchester United. Aston Villa is fourth from the bottom with just 15 points and could be looking at relegation.