Aston Villa v Sunderland (8pm, SKY)

STAR EVENT: Aston Villa v Sunderland
Villa Park
TIME: 8pm
TV: SKY

A massive match tonight to look forward to. The grim reaper called for QPR and Reading yesterday after their pitiful 0-0 draw and there is still one club set to take the drop.

Wigan are in that spot at the moment but Villa are only two points away and Sunderland 5 points so it’s the classic ‘six pointer’ battle tonight.

At Star Sports we make the Villains favourite by virtue of home advantage, the fact they have been in fairly good recent form (bar 3-0 defeat to Man U), and frankly having a bigger hole to get out of at the moment.

Sunderland are also in good form, coming here on the back of a stunning 3-0 defeat of Newcastle at St James’ Park and a home 1-0 win over Everton.

Their new boss Paolo Di Canio has challenged his players to secure their Premier League status tonight by winning a match which he compares to a “Champions League final”.

Victory for Sunderland would take them to 40 points – often considered the safety net benchmark.

Historical encounters between these two teams have been tight affairs with seldom more than one goal splitting them.

The same fixture last season was a nil nil’er.

With so much at stake and so hard to split them the draw seems the logical play.

STAR FORECAST
(stake between 0.5 and 10 points)
4 points win DRAW (Villa v Sunderland)

(-6 points Sunday)

Agree OR disagree? Call Star Sports on 08000 521 321 to place your bet.