Smith's Villans head to the Hawthorns to take on West Midlands rivals the Baggies in a clash between two sides that are chasing promotion this season
Aston Villa take on West Midlands rivals on Friday night in a game that could see Dean Smith's men move as high as fifth place.
West Brom, though, are hot on Leeds' tail in the race for automatic promotion and a win here would put them just one point off the top two.
The visitors have been made favourites for this fixture with bet365 offering industry best odds of 11/8 (2.37) a draw is available at 13/5 (3.60) and you could back Aston Villa at odds of 21/10 (3.10)
Bakary Sako is back in training for the Baggies after missing their last three matches, but Kyle Bartley will miss his sixth game in a row. Hal Robson-Kanu is a doubt after coming off at half-time in the Baggies' 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Alan Hutton returns from suspension for Aston Villa and Albert Adomah is expected to be fit after getting injured in the 4-2 win over Birmingham City two weeks ago.
Aston Villa have hit their best form of the season since Smith's appointment. The Villans have scored 18 in their last five games, with 11 of those goals coming against teams currently in the playoff spots.
West Brom's attack has been potent all season and are the highest scorers in the Championship, hitting 42 goals in the league this season. With neither team having a good defensive record, goals could flow in this game.
Dean Smith's side seemingly learnt a defensive lesson against Nottingham Forest, Villa followed up a 5-5 draw against the Reds with a comprehensive 3-0 win against fellow promotion candidates Middlesbrough. If they can carry through their defensive quality in this game they could see a similar result against the Baggies.
With the two highest scoring teams in the league meeting, over 2.5 goals at 8/13 (1.61) with bet365 looks like it could be the banker of the weekend. Those odds are too short to be considered the best bet for this game though, and instead we fancy Villa to beat West Brom.
The Baggies were unconvincing at home last time out drawing 1-1 with Brentford. With Villa's defence looking much more assured against Middlesbrough a price of 21/10 (3.10) for a win is too high to pass up considering they have won four of their last five.
Odds correct at the time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.