Considering Aston Villa are making their Champions League debut this season, you could be guilty of thinking they have been part of Europe’s elite for years. Three wins from as many outings for Unai Emery’s men and a run that saw top the table at the end of Matchday 3.

Now the Villa Park outfit will not only look to extend their perfect start to European proceedings but also bounce back after a miserable showing against Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday – their 4-1 reverse in North London being only their second league defeat of the season so far.

In terms of European competition, they travel to Belgium and opponents Club Brugge having scored six goals across their first three wins and their average of 2.00 goals per game goes alongside a trio of successive of clean sheets kept by goalkeeper Emi Martinez and the defensive line ahead of him.

As for hosts Club Brugge, it is a single victory from three attempts under their Champions League belt and with just two goals scored in total, it is the conceding of 2.00 goals per game on average which will serve as a wider concern to manager Nicky Hayen.

Although Bayern Munich got their Champions League bid off to a rather emphatic start, there has been little to get excited about since their 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 1. A resounding victory over the Croatian counterparts but back-to-back European defeats have since followed.

With reverses to both Aston Villa and Barcelona being recorded on the road, Vincent Kompany’s men have conceded seven goals in Europe this season at an average of 2.33 goals against per game and this slightly underwhelms the 10 goals that they have scored in total.

Wednesday sees the current Bundesliga leaders play host to Benfica and although Bruno Lage’s side are sitting third in Portugal’s Primera Division, they have managed to score 24 goals in their first nine outings of the season – an average of 2.66.

If you ignore their domestic output and look solely at what they have done in Europe this season, the Lisbon outfit are averaging 2.33 goals per game in the Champions League. Just the kind of numbers that makes a total of three or more being scored at the Allianz Arena a worthy suggestion

Wednesday night also takes us to the San Siro as Inter welcome Arsenal in Champions League action and although the Gunners are stuttering domestically, it is their European defensive record which is of interest.

Three successive clean sheets have been recorded this season and after David Raya played a huge part in their goalless draw at Atalanta on Matchday 1, the Gunners have since beaten PSG and Shakhtar both at home and both to nil.

Rock solid at the back but not blowing teams away at the other end and you can say exactly the same about hosts Inter before Wednesday night. Like the Gunners, they are yet to concede in this season’s competition and like the Gunners they also played out a bore draw on Matchday 1.

However, their 4-0 win over Crvena Zvezda and 1-0 victory over Young Boys means they have outscored Arsenal in the competition by five goals to three. An average of 1.66 goals per game playing an average of 1.00 on Wednesday and this suggests that goals may be at a premium

With the way Barcelona made such light work of Bayern Munich on Matchday 3 of this season’s Champions League, there would never be any considerable value when it comes to backing them to beat Crvena Zvzeda on Wednesday.

Hansi Flick’s men will travel to Serbia as heavy favourites to earn a third successive win in the competition and before they make their trip to Belgrade, they have already scored 10 goals in this season’s edition of the competition.

An average of 3.33 per game and when you remove their solitary goal from their 2-1 defeat at Monaco on Matchday 1, the Catalan outfit has averaged 4.50 goals per game when also picking up maximum points in Europe.

Add this to Crvena Zvzeda’s defensive record and whereas Barcelona have scored the joint-second highest number of goals, Wednesday’s hosts have conceded the joint-highest with 11. At an average of 3.66 against per game, a minimum of three entries on the scoresheet is certainly within range.

Another new face in the Champions League and another outfit looking to disrupt the status quo. Although Brest have not quite matched the same heights of fellow competition debutants Aston Villa, their start to proceedings should not be overlooked either.

An Austrian double at the expense of Sturm Graz and RB Salzburg saw Eric Roy’s men earn six points from the first six on offer and a draw with Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 3 would take their overall tally to seven.

This tally is enough to give Brest a place in the top eight of the table before Matchday 4 begins, and they are already making headway on some form of knockout football after the turn of the year. Those three unbeaten games have seen the French side score seven goals at an average of 2.33 per game.

A record that they will look to maintain against Sparta Prague on Wednesday and with their Czech hosts having been hit for five by Manchester City on Matchday 3, Brest will be confident of extending their European run to four without defeat – confidence that is also shared within this accumulator.