Betting Preview- Wigan v Stoke, Aston Villa v Middlesbrough

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Weekend of 8^th-9^th November

Wigan v Stoke

WIGAN win @ 1.90

Aston Villa v Middlesbrough

VILLA win @ 1.80

We look to round off a perfect week of predictions with a couple of Premier League tips from this weekend. We start of with Steve Bruce’s Wigan at home to the increasingly impressive Stoke. Stoke have used their secret weapon of Rory Delap and his monster throw ins to great effect this season however, we believe that Bruce’s Wigan will be strong enough to repel these attacks.

Stoke have really struggled away from home this season and Wigan bounced back from some poor results by beating Portsmouth in last week so we believe they’ll manage to get another 3 points on Saturday too.

Wigan have few injury worries with captain Mario Melchiot set to return after recovering from a virus. Jason Koumas may be replaced by Paul Scharner or Michael Brown in midfield, with Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki continuing up front. Stoke boss Tony Pulis may keep the same side who beat Arsenal last weekend. Amdy Faye was preferred to Tom Soares and is set to keep his place, while long-term injury victims Liam Lawrence and Andrew Davies are still sidelined. Wigan are priced at 1.90, well worth taking a gamble on.

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Aston Villa v Middlesbrough

VILLA win @ 1.80

From Sunday’s games we’ve gone for Villa and their home game with Middlesbrough. Boro have been decent this season although they were hammered by Chelsea a few weeks back. Villa on the other hand are the best team outside of the top four and if they want to prove that they have to win games like this one. Villa have been boosted by the return to fitness of winger James Milner, who suffered a blow to his side against Newcastle on Monday. Fellow midfielder Stiliyan Petrov will miss out again as he is still being troubled by a hamstring strain. Boro boss Gareth Southgate will choose between strikers Afonso Alves and Mido. Southgate is expected to name Justin Hoyte at right-back in place of David Wheater. Julio Arca is set to replace Didier Digard in central midfield. With nearly a fully fit squad at his disposal Martin O’Neill’s Villa should have what it takes to beat inconsistent Boro and at odds of 1.80 this could turn out to be a nice little earner for us.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM VILLA’S 1-0 AWAY WIN AGAINST SLAVIA PRAGUE ON THURSDAY

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