Aston Villa look well placed to pick up all 3 points against Celtic on Wednesday night. Unai Emery’s side will have their sights set on automatic qualification to the last 16. Villa’s home record has been nothing short of excellent under Emery since he arrived at the club. They have already beaten both Bayern Munich and Bologna at Villa Park this season, as well as holding Juventus to a draw. On top of that, Villa have avoided defeat in each of their last 11 Premier League home games. While Celtic have exceeded expectations and perhaps achieved qualification quicker than anticipated, they do tend to struggle on their travels in Europe, with 10 of their 12 points being collected in Glasgow. The Hoops now face a very difficult task when they come up against an Aston Villa side with plenty left to play for. Celtic’s short trip South of the border is made all the more difficult given that key forward Daizen Maeda is suspended, while prolific striker Kyogo Furuhashi has departed the club to join Rennes.

Look to Callum McGregor to commit a minimum of 1 foul at Villa Park on Wednesday night. The Celtic captain has overstepped the mark once in each of his last 2 Champions League outings. He also gave away a combined total of 4 free kicks across the Hoops’ 2 games with Slovan Bratislava and Atalanta earlier in the campaign. On top of that, McGregor has also got on the wrong side of the referee in 3 of the last 6 matches that he has started for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, picking up 1 yellow card in the process. Thus, the Celtic maestro could be forced into a cynical challenge or 2 against an Aston Villa team laced with quality. McGregor could find himself in direct battle with Morgan Rogers, who is earning his side an average of 1 free kick per game in this season’s Champions League.

Given the fact that the aforementioned Morgan Rogers is drawing an average of 1 foul per game in this season’s Champions League, it makes sense to side with a repeat at Villa Park on Wednesday night. Moreover, the Aston Villa attacker is also being brought down by the opposition on a regular basis in the Premier League this season, earning his team an average of 1.36 free kicks per 90. Dig deeper and it can be seen that Rogers has been fouled at least once in 18 of his 22 appearances for Aston Villa in the Premier League this season. As already mentioned, Rogers is likely to cross paths with Celtic’s Callum McGregor, who has committed a combined total of 6 fouls across his 7 Champions League appearances this season so far.

Celtic are unlikely to sacrifice their forward-thinking principles at Villa Park on Wednesday night, making them an appealing option to earn a minimum of 4 corners. Brendan Rodgers’ team have averaged 6.71 corners per game across their opening 7 Champions League games of the season. In fact, only 5 other teams have earned more corners than Celtic ahead of the final round of league phase action. That has coincided with Celtic hitting 4 or more flag kicks in all 7 of their league phase assignments so far, including their away days at Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta. Aston Villa are conceding an average of 4.57 corners per game in the Champions League this season, having to defend at least 4 corners in their home games with both Bayern Munich and Bologna.

Ollie Watkins is yet to score for Aston Villa in this season’s Champions League but Wednesday night could represent an ideal opportunity for him to open his account for the campaign. The Aston Villa ace has certainly not struggled in front of goal in the Premier League this season, netting 10 times across his 23 appearances to date. It’s also worth noting that 3 of those goals have arrived across his last 5 top-flight appearances, the most recent of which was against Arsenal. While Celtic have kept a clean sheet in each of their last 2 Champions League matches, they shipped 7 goals away at Borussia Dortmund on matchday 2 and they also failed to silence no-hopers Slovan Bratislava on matchday 1. What’s more, the Bhoys’ backline has been breached 7 times across their last 3 Scottish Premiership away games, making Watkins the prime candidate to exploit that defensive vulnerability.

Arne Engels looks overpriced to be fouled once or more during this all-British affair. The Belgian international has drawn a sizeable average of 1.43 fouls per game when appearing in the Champions League for Celtic this season. In fact, Engels has been fouled once or more in 5 of the 6 league phase matches that he has started for Celtic this season, being hauled down on no fewer than 3 occasions against Young Boys last time out. He was also fouled once during his last Scottish Premiership start against Ross County. The 21-year-old playmaker is likely to come up against tough-tackling Aston Villa midfield duo Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans, both of whom are averaging north of 1 foul per 90 in this season’s Champions League.

Celtic carry more than enough attacking threat to work Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez at least twice on Wednesday night. Having already assured themselves of a play-off tie, Brendan Rodgers is unlikely to abandon his attacking approach at Villa Park. The Scottish champions have averaged 4.43 shots on target per game in this season's Champions League, while Villa have faced an average of 5 on-target efforts per 90. Bayern Munich forced 7 saves from the aforementioned Martinez when they visited Villa Park earlier this season, while Italian duo Bologna and Juventus have since called the Villa stopper into action on 4 and 2 occasions respectively at this venue. Celtic drew 2 saves from the opposition goalkeeper away from home against both Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta and they can continue in that vein at Villa Park.

Nicolas Kuhn looks the most likely Celtic player to test Martinez. The Celtic star has scored 16 goals across his 30 appearances in all competitions this season, striking twice against RB Leipzig on matchday 4. While Kuhn has averaged just 0.29 shots on target per game in the Champions League this term, he has hit the target with 3 of his overall 6 attempts. Furthermore, Kuhn is averaging 1.06 on-target efforts per 90 in the Scottish Premiership this season. With Celtic set to go into this game without both Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi, Kuhn will again have to carry the goalscoring burden. Thus, the Hoops talisman is the obvious candidate to register a shot on target against an Aston Villa team that are giving up an average of 5 on-target efforts per 90 on the continent this term.