Lyon have made a great start to the season, currently level on points with European champions PSG after picking up 15 points from a possible 18. This is largely due to their rock-solid defence, which has kept six clean sheets in their last seven matches.

They’re very comfortable soaking up pressure (usually low xG chances), and then punishing opponents with their quality in attack. That’s reflected in their results - five of their six wins this season have ended 1-0.

It’s also evident in their shot data:

Shots for Lyon: 83 (11.86 per 90)
Shots against Lyon: 92 (13.14 per 90)
Shot on target for Lyon: 32 (4.57 per 90)
Shots on target against Lyon: 19 (2.71 per 90)

So while Lyon may concede more shots, they create better quality chances and hit the target more often. This is something I think a young and potentially naive Red Bull Salzburg side could struggle with.

Salzburg themselves are in poor form by their standards, with just one win in their last five (three defeats). In that spell, they’ve averaged 57% possession and 15.6 shots per 90 - meaning they are on the front foot but struggling to convert their pressure into results, something that suits this Lyon team perfectly.

They also don’t travel well at all in this competition, their previous five away Europa League matches have all ended in defeat. Whilst Lyon have only lost three of their last 29 European home games.

Stuttgart are currently in great form, winning their last three games in a row whilst scoring six goals in the process. This includes an impressive (and deserved) 2-1 win against Celta Vigo in the first round of Europa League fixtures.

They’re currently in the top five in the Bundesliga and should definitely fancy themselves against a vulnerable FC Basel side.

Basel are on the other end of the form spectrum at the moment, they lost their first Europa League game to German opposition Freiburg, before losing domestically at the weekend in a home match against Luzern. Of their 10 competitive matches this season, Basel have only won four.

Taking Stuttgart double chance feels like a safe pick.

This game should be a good opportunity for Ange Postecoglou to get a first win under his belt at Forest. They performed well against a strong Real Betis side last week and were probably unfortunate to not take all three points, accumulating 2.7 expected goals and only conceding 0.4 xG.

Despite blanking against Sunderland on Saturday, I expect Forest to create a lot of chances against a Midtjylland side that won’t just want to sit back like Sunderland did.

The Danish side only just played on Monday, meaning they are already at a disadvantage when it comes to preparation time. When you pair this with Forest’s individual quality, I expect there to be a gulf in class tonight - with Nottingham Forest scoring a couple of goals.

Villa have seen BTTS in three of their last five matches across all competitions, and seem to have rediscovered some form in front of goal, scoring at least once in all of their last four games. They did manage to keep a clean sheet against Bologna but this wasn’t exactly earned - the Italian side left Villa park with an xG of 1.24 from 17 shots, seven of which found the target.

Feyenoord have won all three of their home games so far this season without conceding a goal. However, these wins have come against sides in the middle to lower reaches of the Eredivisie so it’s fair to say that Robin Van Persie’s side haven’t really been tested at home yet.

Feyenoord did see BTTS in both legs of their Champions League qualifying attempt against Fenerbahce with that tie producing 10 goals across the two legs.

Feyenoord scored 38 goals across their 17 home games in the Dutch top flight last season (2.23 per game). Furthermore, Villa conceded 31 goals across their 19 away games in the Premier League last season (1.63 per game).