Will Bent leave it late again?

22/01/2011 | By More

Gerard Houllier will be praying that capturing Darren Bent will help Aston Villa turn a corner on what has been an incredibly disappointing season to date.

Bent left Wearside with an impressive scoring record after bagging 32 league goals in his 58 appearances – which is why Steve Bruce was so upset to see his main striker depart. Even though many football fans will recall Bent’s time at White Hart Lane as a failure, he still managed to score 25 goals in 70 matches across all competitions. Harry Redknapp once remarked he missed chance so easy that his missus could have tucked it away.

Before transferring to Spurs, Bent was part of the Charlton side that punched above their weight in the Premier League under Alan Curbishley. During his time with the Addicks he scored 31 times in 68 league games.

Manchester City are this weekend’s opponent, who have once again been busy in the January transfer window. Roberto Mancini was able to acquire the services of Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian impressed on his home debut with an assist against Wolves and it’ll be a good battle between the two high-profile signings.

The movement of the over / under goals markets will therefore be fascinating – at time of writing it’s evens for over 2.5 goals on Betfair – and it might be worth initially laying off before backing a little later in the match. Interestingly, Bent scored a 90^th minute winner when Sunderland met Man City at the Stadium of Light in August. Bent has made a habit of scoring late goals this campaign, with three of his eight league strikes arriving in the final minute. He has also scored on debut for two of his four clubs. Traders might do well to consider laying the draw if it remains close late on or even backing Villa as the game approaches the final whistle.