Fenerbahce v Aston Villa: Three stats and three bets for Thursday | OneFootball

Fenerbahce v Aston VillaThursday 22 January, 17:45

Aston Villa have won five of their six Europa League matches so far this season and sit third in the table of 36 teams. Unai Emery's record in this competition is phenomenal, winning it three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal. Villans fans would love to see their Spanish boss lift the trophy for a fifth time this season and the Premier League club are 7/2 favourites to do it.

They travel to Turkey off the back of a rare home defeat - going down 1-0 to Everton at Villa Park on Sunday - which damaged their chances of catching Arsenal in the Premier League title race. The good news for Villa is that they appear to possess boucebackability - after they lost 4-1 to Arsenal last month, they followed up with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. Emery doesn't let his players stay down for long.

As for Fener, they are 12th in the Europa League table, with three wins, two draws and one defeat. They come into the game on a run of five successive wins in all competitions, so they will be up for the visit of the tournament favourites. At home in this competition, the Turkish side have won two and draw one, but they are yet to play a team of Villa's calibre.

Bet #1 - Back goals for both teams

The Stat

Fenerbahce have scored in all of their home matches in the Europa League, while Villa have found the net on all of their away days in the competition this term.

The Bet

Bet #2 - Back Talisca to strike again

The Stat

In five appearances so far this season in the Europa League, Fenerbahce's Talisca has scored four goals and achieved one assist. He hit a brace in his side's 3-2 away win over Alanyaspor at the weekend, so he's a man in form and should relish the big stage here.

The Bet

Bet #3 - Back Villa to pass Turkish test

The Stat

Trips to Turkey are rarely comfortable but Emery's nous, and his players' quality, should be enough to get them the result on Thursday. The opportunity to back a team that have won five of their six matches in this competition this term cannot be passed up.

The Bet

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