Aston Villa step up their preparations for the new season with a friendly against Spanish side Real Sociedad at Walsall on Tuesday.
Villa's third summer outing takes place at the Bescot Stadium as Unai Emery gets more game-time into his squad.
After hammering the Saddlers 5-0 at this venue in their first friendly on July 21st, Villa next travelled to Portugal to face FC Porto on Saturday, narrowly losing 2-1.
With the new Premier League campaign now less than a month away, this will be a good test for the Villans, against opponents who were 10th in La Liga last term and who also lifted the Copa del Rey.
Aston Villa v Real Sociedad Tips Summary
Best Bet - Aston Villa to win @ 9/10
Alternative Bet - Aston Villa to win 3-1 @ 14/1
Bet Builder - Aston Villa to win, Both teams to score & Total goals range 1-4 @ 5/1
Best Bet: Aston Villa to win @ 9/10
Villa had far too much quality for Walsall in their traditional pre-season opener, hammering their West Midlands neighbours 5-0.
However, a much more difficult test followed when a young squad took on Porto over the weekend but they still battled well, losing narrowly 2-1.
This third outing, back at the Bescot, should give us more of an idea where last season's fourth-placed finishers are after a testing summer in which key players have departed.
Losing both Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers are big blows to Villa's ambitions this season.
Questions remain as to how what appears to be a weaker squad will now cope with the tough dual demands of domestic and UEFA Champions League football, even though Emery has been able to add Joao Gomes, Johan Manzambi and Alejandro Garnacho to his roster.
They should be good enough to see off Sociedad, though, with a morale-boosting friendly success likely for Emery's men.
Alternative Bet: Aston Villa to win 3-1 @ 14/1
Villa cut loose against Walsall with a nice attacking performance and they can get at Sociedad as well.
Despite losing some top talent this summer, the arrivals of Gomes, Manzambi and Garnacho are exciting - although it's doubtful all will be in action on Tuesday.
Still, Villa have plenty of threat going forward with the likes of Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey - who have both caught the eye in pre-season - while youngsters Luka Lynch and Aidan Borland, who were on the scoresheet against Walsall, may both get another first-team outing.
A punt on a correct score 3-1 home win is worth taking with Villa fancied to dominate large spells of this friendly as they ramp up their preparations for the new campaign.
Aston Villa v Real Sociedad Bet Builder
Aston Villa to win
Both teams to score
Total goals range 1-4
Pays @ 5/1
Villa to win is the starting point for the three-leg Bet Builder with Emery's men expected to dominate in familiar surroundings against a mid-table Spanish opponents.
However, we should expect the visitors to score too. Sociedad have scored in two of their three friendlies recently and fired a respectable 59 goals in their 38 league games last season.
Adding in a goals range leg covering 1-4 goals then boosts the Bet Builder to 5/1, with it looking unlikely there will be more than four hitting the back of the net on Tuesday evening.
Learn more about how Bet Builders work in our Bet Builder guide.
Key Match Stats
Villa finished fourth in the Premier League last season and also won the Europa League
Real Sociedad ended up 10th in La Liga but won the Copa del Rey
Villa have beaten Walsall (5-0) and lost to Porto (2-1) in pre-season so far
Sociedad have lost to Pau 1-0, drawn with Racing Santander (1-1) and beaten Wolves 2-1 this summer
There have been a total of eight goals in Villa's two pre-season games this year
The two teams have never previously met
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
