Aston Villa v Bologna: Both sides to oblige at Villa Park | OneFootball

UEFA Champions League

Aston Villa have managed only two clean sheets this season

Aston Villa are warm favourites to beat Bologna on Tuesday night in the Champions League. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is backing both teams to score at Villa Park...

Aston Villa v BolognaTuesday October 22, 20:00Live on TNT Sports

Villa march on at Fulham

Aston Villa have made their best start to a Premier League seasons since 1998/99 with their 3-1 success at Fulham on Saturday lifting the Villans up to fourth. Ollie Watkins scored his fifth Premier League goal of the campaign either side of strikes from Morgan Rogers and a Cottagers own goal to seal top honours for Unai Emery's in-form outfit.

Emery was understandably delighted post-match, saying, "I'm very proud of our mentality. We are trying to keep the same performances we had last year in the Premier League and be consistent, focusing on each match as strongly as possible, tactically, individually, in our mentality, and then enjoying as well and trying to compete in the Champions League."

Villa were able to welcome back Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey into the starting XI, whilst Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa were all on the bench following their own returns from injury. Meanwhile, Tyrone Mings is available again following a long spell on the sidelines after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament last year.

Injuries biting at Bologna

Bologna boss Vincenzo Italiano insists his players must be more focussed as they've "fumbled leads too many times" this season. The Rossoblu took a two-goal lead against Genoa away at the Marassi on Saturday thanks to goals from Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard but a late brace from Andrea Pinamonti denied Italiano's outfit all three points.

Analysing the encounter, a frustrated Italiano said, "We must learn that games are never finished until the very end. We must increase attention to detail during the week in training. I am sorry because we could have hurt Genoa more on counter-attacks. We now know we must be more focused on everything we do because we should have had more points."

Injuries haven't helped Bologna of late. The Rossoblu's squad is being stretched by the extra demands of European football and saw Martin Erlic, Michal Aebischer, Samuel Iling-Junior and Dan Ndoye miss the weekend trip. Jhon Lucumi wasn't considered 100% fit to feature, whilst Nicolo Cambiaghi and Lewis Ferguson are long-term injury absentees.

Rossoblu can make their mark at Villa Park

Aston Villa and Bologna are facing-off for the very first time. The Villans have lost four of their six major European games against Italian sides, with the two wins both coming at home against Internazionale during the UEFA Cup in the 1990s. Meanwhile, Bologna were beaten away at Liverpool on MD2, one of only two previous trips to English opposition.

Aston Villa 1.63 are aiming to become only the third side to win their opening three games in the Champions League without conceding having opened their account with back-to-back victories against Young Boys (3-0) and Bayern Munich (1-0). The hosts have impressively returned W28-D5-L5 across their last 38 league and continental fixtures at home.

Bologna 6.00 produced a creditable display in their aforementioned 2-0 reverse at Liverpool - winning the shout 12-9 and hitting the woodwork twice - and should take a similarly proactive approach at Villa Park considering Vincenzo Italiano's preference for forward-thinking football. With that in-mind, Both Teams To Score appeals at 1.90.

Posch play in the fouls market

BTTS has banked in six of eight Aston Villa games in the Premier League, as well as boasting the same hit-rate for Bologna in Serie A. Although yet to land in the Champions League for either side, based on the balance of play, three of those four combined fixtures could quite conceivably have seen both sides get on the scoresheet so 1.90 stands-out.

Elsewhere, Stefan Posch is a 4/5 shot to commit two or more fouls. The Bologna right-back has hit this line in seven of his eight league and UCL starts for Bologna this season. In fact, the rash Austrian international is averaging a foul every 36 minutes this season for the Rossoblu and is bound to be busy with Villa sending 38% of their attacks down the left-side.

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