Orsolini is quite clearly the biggest threat that Bologna will have to offer here. The 28 year old has maintained a high level in Serie A for a few seasons, culminating in his best ever season for Bologna last year, as he registered 21 goal contributions across his 40 appearances in all competitions.

He had 75 shots across his 30 appearances in Serie A last season (3.58 per 90), with 28 of these attempts finding the target (1.34 per 90). He’s started this season with similar numbers, registering 12 shots across his four appearances (3.14 per 90) - with half of these efforts finding the target (1.57 per 90). This record has produced two goals already for Orsolini, one of which came last time out against Genoa.

Orsolini was also a shot threat for Bologna in the Champions League last season. He took 13 shots across his six appearances in the competition (3.60 per 90), with four of these attempts finding the target (1.11 per 90). One of these efforts on target was against Aston Villa in Bologna’s 2-0 defeat at Villa Park.

Lucumi was the subject of intense transfer speculation over the summer, with both Sunderland and Bournemouth linked with the Colombian centre back. His move to the Premier League never quite materialised and he’s in the limelight to commit a foul here.

Lucumi has committed five fouls across his four appearances in Serie A this season, only two of these appearances have been starts, taking his average to 1.96 fouls committed per 90.

I always like backing centre backs to commit a foul when they are up against Ollie Watkins. I played this exact same angle when Watkins was up against Burn and Schar earlier in the season, Watkins is not a traditional striker and his mobility causes less agile centre backs real problems. Both Burn and Schar committed at least one foul in that game.

Lucumi contested 12 duels and committed one foul when Bologna played Aston Villa in the Champions League last season, too.

This is a must win game for Aston Villa, they’ve started really slowly domestically but this competition can offer them some relief. Villa are favourites to win the Europa League and a large amount of that pricing is down to Unai Emery’s unique ability to dominate this competition.

Aston Villa registered five corners when these sides met in the Champions League at Villa Park last season. Corners were pretty common for Unai Emery’s side when they played at home in the Champions League last term, they had at least three corners in each of their league phase matches at Villa Park, aside from their 1-0 win over Bayern Munich.

Villa are struggling to create and convert chances from open play at the moment, which may tempt Emery to use set pieces to his advantage. Villa scored 16 goals in the Premier League from set pieces last season and their only league goal so far this season also came from a set play.

Aston Villa have been poor in the early stages of the season, but as we saw with Man United and Tottenham in this competition last season - the Premier League is head and shoulders above the other domestic leagues at the moment, which makes these European matches more manageable for Villa.

They ran out 2-0 winners over Bologna when the sides met in the league phase of the Champions League last season and were the better side overall, I would stop short of calling it domination as Bologna had chances, but the quality that Villa have shone through.

Even though Villa’s start has been poor, especially from an attacking point of view, they have managed to draw their last three matches which gives some confidence to my selection here. Emery is a master when it comes to navigating the Europa League and I think he’ll be able to help Villa recover from their slow start to the campaign.

Morgan Rogers hasn’t been at his best in the early weeks of the season, but that criticism can be applied to the majority of the Villa squad at the moment. He was Villa’s top scorer in the Champions League last term, showing that he can compete at the level.

Rogers was Villa's best player when they took on Bologna in the league phase of Champions League last season. He registered an assist in the game, as well as having four shots and completing seven dribbles.

Villa are the favourites for this competition, so you would expect them to be pretty dominant in the majority of their games. This match in particular is crucial in the context of how they’ve started the season, and I’d back Villa’s most effective player in Europe last season to be a real danger again during this campaign.

Only Jhon Lucumi and Santiago Castro (8) picked up more cautions for Bologna last season than Remo Freuler (6). The central midfielder will have his work cut out here, against the side that won the most fouls in the Premier League last season - with midfield being a particular hotspot.

His direct opponent will be Morgan Rogers, who attempted 11 dribbles in this fixture last season. This is bound to test Freuler, who has committed five fouls across his four appearances in Serie A this season (1.29 per 90), receiving one yellow card across these games.

He’ll also have to contend with John McGinn, who is one of the most skilled players in all of Europe when it comes to winning fouls. McGinn has won eight fouls across his five appearances in the Premier League this season (1.75 per 90) and averaged 2.78 fouls won per 90 across his 34 appearances in the Premier League last term.

Villa had 16 shots in this fixture last season. Six of those attempts found the target and I’d back a similar number of efforts from Villa here, as they attempt to force the issue and kickstart their season.

Villa have admittedly been dry in the final third up until this point, but the additions they added late on in the window should help to make them a more dynamic and dangerous side when the new signings bed in. Harvey Elliott is the standout, he had an excellent campaign for England U21 over the summer, and could nail down a starting spot in this side.

Villa’s two home games this season have seen them have three and four shots on target, they are much more of a threat at home than they are on the road. This was also true last season, Villa averaged just over 5.0 shots on target per game at Villa Park last season, this dipped to around 3.0 per game when looking at their away matches.