Champions League: Aston Villa Will Show No Mercy to Bologna

Aston Villa vs Bologna

Aston Villa are one of the hottest teams as of late. Since their 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in late August, the Villans are on a nine-game unbeaten run, and they plan to make it 10 straight when they host Bologna on Tuesday evening.

Unai Emery’s men opened their 2024-25 Champions League campaign with wins over Bayern Munich and Young Boys, and they might be just the dark horse to win it all, based on recent form.

In contrast, Bologna are struggling to find their footing this season. The Rossoblu are 13^th in the Serie A table, and they were held to a goalless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk before losing against Liverpool to kick off their Champions League campaign.

This is essentially a David and Goliath battle, and the pre-game SBOTOP betting odds fancy the chances of the hosts to win this matchup.

 

Talking Points

Aston Villa go strength to strength

After being held to a goalless draw by Manchester United, Aston Villa returned to winning ways against Fulham, successfully coming from behind one goal down.

The Villans trailed early when Raul Jimenez scored the first goal of the match for the Cottagers in the fifth minute, but Morgan Rogers scored the equalizer after four minutes.

Fulham won a first-half penalty for a handball by Matty Cash, but Andreas Pereiras saw his spot-kick attempt saved by Dibu Martinez.

Ollie Watkins put the Villans up for good when he scored a bullet header from Youri Tielemans’ corner during the hour mark for his fifth goal of the 2024-25 campaign. It was the 150^th senior goal on his 400^th senior appearance for the Aston Villa hitman.

Aston Villa had the numbers advantage when Joachim Andersen was sent off in the 64^th minute before an own goal from Issa Diop doubled the Villans’ advantage and clinched the three points.

Unai Emery will likely rotate his squad against Bologna, but the good news is that they don’t have many injuries to deal with.

Ezri Konsa is back on the bench after he sustained a hamstring injury against Manchester United, which ruled him out of England’s UEFA Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland.

Meanwhile, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara are back to training after both have been sidelined with ACL injuries.

 

Bologna’s roster is thinned out

Meanwhile, Vincenzo Italiano has serious injury problems ahead of Tuesday, as at least four of his key players are not fit.

Martin Erlic is out for at least one month due to a leg injury, while Michal Aebischer continues to recover from an adductor injury. Samuel Iling-Junior and Dan Ndoye are also dealing with leg injuries.

And this is not taking into account the long-term absences of Nicolo Cambiaghi and Lewis Ferguson, who both are rehabbing their injured knees.

The Rossoblu’s confidence is so low after they squandered their opportunity to win against Genoa, as they blew a two-goal lead to be held to a draw last night.

 

History

Tuesday marks the first-ever encounter between Aston Villa and Bologna across all competitions.

Aston Villa have struggled in Europe against Italian sides, as they’ve lost four of their last six such games, with the two other results being wins against Inter Milan in October 1990 and September 1994 during the UEFA Cup.

If the Villans win again on Tuesday, they will tie their longest streak of wins in Europe since notching three consecutive victories in September to October 1981.

Aston Villa could also become only the third team to win their opening three games in the Champions League without conceding a single goal after Malaga (2012-13) and Leicester City (2016-17).

Bologna, on the other hand, won their first three games against English opposition in major European competitions. However, the Rossoblu have lost their last two such games.

 

Betting Tip

The Champions League 2024 odds are unsurprisingly in favour of the hosts on Tuesday. Aston Villa are 1.59 favourites, whereas Bologna are 4.88 underdogs, and a draw is at 3.70 in the 1X2 market.

With their firepower, Aston Villa should put up enough Champions League 2024 highlights for the fans at Villa Park to enjoy. So, other than our recommended bet above, bettors can also go for Over 2.50 at 1.82, Over 2.75 at 2.12, Total Goal 2-3 at 1.92, or even Total Goal 4-6 at 3.07.

Bologna will be lucky to get another draw from this match, and if you fancy their chances to do so, then check out Correct Scores of 0-0 and 1-1, given their offers of 11.00 and 6.80, respectively.

   

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