In this article…
Aston Villa v Bologna
📅
Kick Off: Tuesday 22nd October at 20:00
🏆
Competition: Champions League
📺
Watch Live: BT Sports 1
Aston Villa come into this off the back of a historic win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League and sit in the Top 6 of the League phase. They will be looking to continue their strong European form here against a Bologna side who are struggling both domestically (13th) and in Europe (26th).
⭐ Aston Villa v Bologna Best Bets
Both teams have managers with great records in continental competitions but whereas Unai Emery’s Villa have a tried and tested, consistent look to them, Bologna and Vincenzo Italiano are still learning about each other.
Bologna like to dominate possession – they average 61% a game in Serie A this season. Villa won’t mind this. They shown against Bayern Munich that they are dangerous in transitions and playing without the ball when they beat the Bundesliga runners-up 1-0 despite a possession share of 33%.
The match is unlikely to unravel into a shootout with both teams playing with an element of control, even if not in possession of the ball. Villa are still riding the emotional high of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in over two decades and can ride on the coattails of the high feeling felt at Villa Park during the Bayern Munich showdown.
👕 Aston Villa v Bologna Predicted XI
🔍 Aston Villa v Bologna Players to Watch
🟣 Morgan Rogers
Rogers’ level of performance since signing from Middlesbrough in January has been a giant surprise. Expected to take time to adapt to the level, Rogers has cemented a first team place and has fans and the media calling for him to get a senior England call up.
His role for Villa sees him floating in and around Ollie Watkins, tasked with picking up the ball and driving at the back line. Watkins’ movement around him make both passes and shots as an option for Rogers’ final action. In 10 matches for Villa this season Rogers’ shot numbers read 2-3-0-4-3-0-1-0-2-4. He comes into the game off the back of a goal on Saturday versus Fulham where he finished with 0.73xG from four shots.
🔵 Stefan Posch
Whereas Leon Bailey provides the chief attacking threat on Aston Villa’s right channel, the other side of the pitch see a three pronged attack of Lucas Digne, Jaden Ramsey and Morgan Rogers. Ramsey and Rogers’ rotations into half spaces make them extremely hard to mark with box players highly capable dribblers. Their movement allows Digne to advance and overlap.
If Bologna are going to keep Villa left hand side quiet then Stefan Posch is going to have to perform to a high calibre and will need protection from the right hand side of his midfield. Pau Torres and Your Tielemans will play passes into the feet of Ramsey and Rogers and in behind Posch for the advancing Digne.
Posch has committed 20 fouls in 817 Bologna minutes this season – that’s a foul every 40.85 minutes. In nine matches this season his foul numbers read 2-2-2-3-3-0-3-4-1. The zero was a 17 minute appearance off the subs bench.
📂 Aston Villa v Bologna Cheat Sheet
Our signature football betting predictions are are here for the latest Champions League matchday. Be sure to check out our Champions League accumulator tips and Champions League bet builder tips to help you back a few winners this week.
We also have a selection of both teams to score tips, along with player prop market predictions to fold into bet builders, like our card betting tips, player shots on target tips, fouls betting tips, and anytime goalscorer tips.
💻 Aston Villa v Bologna Form and Tactics
Unai Emery’s Villa will likely have a familiar looking back four protecting Emi Martinez in goal. Ezri Konsa is being treated carefully following hamstring trouble and was unused from the bench against Fulham on Saturday. It’s likely that he’ll return to the team ahead of either Matty Cash at right back or Diego Carlos at centre-back.
Pau Torres is a definite starter at left sided centre-back with Lucas Digne’s good form keeping summer signing Ian Maatsen on the subs bench. Belgian pair, Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans should partner in midfield where Ross Barkley and the returning duo John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara are also options. It’s expected that Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey will support Ollie Watkins in attack leaving the hero against Bayern Munich, keeping the hero against Bayern Munich, Jhon Duran as a backup.
Bologna also use a back four. But ahead of that their formation alters from game to game. They’ve used an attacking 4-3-3, a 4-2-3-1 and a defence minded 4-1-4-1 at times this season, away at Liverpool on Champions League matchday 2 was one of these moments. It’s probable that Bologna will adopt a similar approach here. Swiss duo Dan Ndoye and Michel Aebischer are absent with injury as are Lewis Ferguson, Oussama El Azzouzi, Martin Erlic and Samuel Iling Jr (on loan from opponents Villa).
Aston Villa’s last five matches read WDWDW. They battled to an away win versus Wycombe in the Carabao Cup, drew 2-2 with Ipswich before the heroic 1-0 win over Bayern Munich. Then came a 0-0 hangover with Manchester United before a refreshed looking performance after the international break versus Fulham on Saturday where they won 3-1.
Bologna’s last five matches read WDLDD. They beat Monza away 2-1, drew 1-1 with Atalanta, lost 2-0 at Anfield to Liverpool before two more Serie A draws, 0-0 with Parma and 2-2 with Genoa. Draws are becoming the story of Bolgona’s Serie A season – six of their eight matches have ended in stalemate.
Get best bets sent to your inbox, it’s free.
🏁 Aston Villa v Bologna Ref Watch
- Referee: Joao Pinheiro (Portugal)
- Refereed one previous Champions League game this season (Shakhtar v Atalanta) – 3 yellow cards.
- Averages 4.4 yellow cards per game in all competitions this season.
- Has awarded 3 penalties this season (0.30 per game)
- No red cards this season
Football Predictions at Andy’s Bet Club
Our guide on how to use a Cheat Sheet is the perfect way to get involved with our bet builder stats tool, the best freely available data source for punting on the Premier League.
We recommend the best betting sites for accumulators, top bet builder sites, and the best free bet offers and weekly free bet clubs, all to ensure you bet smarter when backing our tips with the best UK sports betting sites.
Also check out our list of free Champions League betting offers, xpert guides, such as this one, on xG in football, are also available to help you up your punting game.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
18+ please gamble responsibly.