England Premier League Betting Tips - West Ham vs Aston Villa

The long anticipated first Premier League weekend in now upon us and we have a full card of games to look at.  Newly promoted West Ham will be looking to solidify their Premier League status again after their shock relegation in 2010/2011.  They will face Aston Villa who will be hoping for an improvement this year with their new manager Paul Lambert.

West Ham has invested heavily in their squad in the hope of ensuring their survival in the EPL.  Their goal-scoring hopes will rest on Modibo Maiga who they signed from Sochaux for €6m, and they have greatly improved their central midfield with the signings of Diame and Diarra who could be big players for them this year.

Paul Lambert has been busy putting his own stamp on the Villa team and they have spent over €10m improving the squad, the emphasis being on defence.  Lambert will hope to get Villa organised defensively and the quality of Bent and Agbonlahor going forward should score them enough goals.

Total Goals

The market expects a tight game with a few goals, over 2.5 goals is priced at 2.09 with the under at 1.83.  With each team focusing on solidifying their defence and midfield during the transfer window it is expected that they’ll be fairly cautious in their first game of the season and goals may be at a premium.

Asian Handicap

The Asian market slightly favours the home team for this with West Ham -0.25 priced at 1.99 and Villa +0.25 at 1.95.  With the time until kick-off one team may still sign or lose a player, so I would continue to check back at howtobet.net for the latest news on the teams and any last minute betting tips.