Aston Villa v Bologna Tips: Back Emery's men to kickstart season | OneFootball

UEFA Europa League

Can Unai Emery work his Europa League magic with struggling Villa?

Aston Villa have made a poor start to the season but their manager's Europa League record is peerless and tonight's match against Bologna could be an opportunity for his team to start firing...

Aston Villa v BolognaThursday 25 September, 20:00Live on TNT Sports

Europa League is welcome distraction for Villa

After a miserable start to the Premier League season, which has seen Aston Villa score just one goal in five matches, manager Unai Emery may see tonight's Europa League match against Bologna as a welcome distraction. He should do, especially as Emery is the competition's most successful manager of all time.

The Villa boss holds the record for the most games managed (93), most wins (56) and most titles won (4) in UEFA Europa League history (excluding a 3-0 Villarreal win v Qarabag in December 2020 that was postponed due to Covid-19). He has reached the final in each of the last five full campaigns in the competition (excluding 2019-20 when he was sacked by Arsenal).

Bologna make mixed start to Serie A season

Italian club Bologna are 11th in Serie A after making a mixed start to the season. So far, it's been a simple case of winning at home and losing on the road. They have played four matches, beating Como and Genoa at home, losing to Roma and AC Milan on their travels.  In both of their away defeats, Bologna failed to score and were beaten to nil.

Bologna are winless in their last five European games against English opponents (D1 L4), run that includes losing 2-0 to Villa here last season in the Champions League. The Italians were knocked out of the competition at the league stage.

Back unders at Villa Park

Much has been written about Villa's attacking problems but in defensive terms they can take encouragement from a clean sheet against Newcastle on the opening day and another against in-form Everton at their new stadium. The blight on that record is their 3-0 defeat at home to Palace. Is that an anomaly? Emery will try to ensure that they suffer no more mishaps like that one.

In his Europa League tipsheet, Paul Higham backs Villa to win this one to nil. I was also attracted to that bet but, as Paul has got it covered, I will focus instead on backing unders in the home win. I'm thinking that Villa will seize this opportunity to kickstart their season and, while it won't be a romp against a wily Italian opponent, we should see a consumate Emery Europa League victory.

Aston Villa v Bologna Match Up Multis Tip

Ollie Watkins is partly responsible for Villa's difficulties this season, although his poor form dates further back. The England forward has failed to score in his last seven Premier League appearances while, in this campaign alone, his attacking data - for shots (1.6), shots on target (0.4) and xG (0.22) - are all his lowest in a single top-flight season.

I'm going to use Betfair's Match Ups to back Youri Tielemans to have more shots on target than Watkins. At 6/1 it is worth a shot.  You can back this bet as a single or combine it in a Match Ups Mulit in which case, I say back Jadon Sancho to win more fouls than John McGinn.

Sancho's Villa loan is yet to ignite but the winger has European experience, both for Manchester United and with Borussia Dortmund, and he may enjoy running at Bologna's defenders. I'm prepared to back Sancho at 15/2 to draw more fouls than McGinn.

So that's a Match Ups Multi at a huge price - Tielmans to have more shots on target than Watkins and Sancho to win more fouls that McGinn at 75/1.

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