Barrow v Aston Villa: Premier League class will tell in EFL Cup

Barrow 8.415/2 v Aston Villa 1.434/9; The Draw 4.47/2
Tuesday 24 August, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Main Event

Barrow are unbeaten start at home

It's a huge fixture for Barrow on Tuesday night, when they welcome Aston Villa to Holker Street.

Last season Barrow returned to the Football League after a 48-year exile and managed to avoid dropping back down to the National League with a 21st place finish, five points clear of the relegation zone. After four games of the new season, Barrow are in 16th (W1 D1 L2).

At the weekend Barrow lost 2-1 away at Harrowgate, having gone a goal up in the first-half through Offrande Zanzala. The positive news for Barrow is that they are unbeaten in three home games this season (W2 D1), which includes a 1-0 win over their fellow League Two side Scunthorpe, in the last round of this competition.

Mark Cooper became manager of the club in May, short after leaving Forest Green Rovers. Cooper has a fully fit squad to choose from ahead of this match.

First win for Villa

Aston Villa picked up their first points of the season over the weekend, with a 2-0 win against Newcastle.

An acrobatic volley from new signing Danny Ings, saw Villa take the lead. It was the second goal in two games from Ings, since the striker made the move from Southampton. With last season's striker Ollie Watkins having been out injured, the performances of Ings highlights the greater squad depth that Villa now enjoy, after cashing in on Jack Grealish and adding to their options.

Anwar El Ghazi converted from the spot in the second-half, to secure the win for Villa. The Egyptian is currently under pressure to retain his spot, after the club signed the likes of Ashley Young, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey this summer.

Bailey was left out of Dean Smith's squad at the weekend, after he injured his hamstring in training. Sanson Morgan is another doubt, while Trezeguet, Bertrand Traore, Keinan Davis and Watkins are all definitely out.

2020 finalists will take this seriously

Aston Villa are the favourites at 1.434/9, with the draw at 4.47/2 and Barrow at 8.415/2.

This looks like the perfect opportunity for Smith to rotate his side a little, but at this tender stage of the season, players tend to be in need of minutes on the pitch rather than rest. It would therefore seem likely that we'll see some players that started against Newcastle in Smith's lineup.

Villa reached the final of the EFL Cup in 2020 and Smith would be silly to take big chances with his selection, in a competition that he knows his team can go far in. Aston Villa are 2.26/5 to win half-time/full-time.

Villa value to score goals

Another option is backing an Aston Villa win and over 2.5 goals at 2.0521/20. You can get odds of 2.3811/8 for Villa to score over 2.5 goals themselves. That looks pretty good value considering that they have scored twice against both Watford and Newcastle in the Premier League this season and are now up against a fourth tier club.

Ings is 2.111/10 to add to his goal tally. There's a chance that he could be rested of course, but with the likes of Watkins, David and Bailey all possibly injured, Smith is not awash with options in attack.