Aston Villa vs Bologna Prediction: Hosts struggling to find shooting boots

Aston Villa and Bologna will lock horns on Thursday night (20:00 BST, live on TNT Sports 1) as both sides begin their respective Europa League campaigns at Villa Park.

The two teams clashed last year in the Champions League, with Villa coming out on top in a 2-0 win, but the hosts are yet to win a domestic game this term. Read on for our Aston Villa vs Bologna predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans will be absent for Unai Emery's side, while Ross Barkley is ineligible to be selected.

Boubacar Kamara has recently returned from injury so he may have to settle for a place on the bench, but the likes of Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho will be pushing for starts in the final third.

As for the visitors, Santiago Castro looks set to feature after recovering from a foot injury to score against Genoa on Saturday, and Riccardo Orsolini is also expected to start in attack.

Bologna will be without the likes of Nicolo Casale, Tommaso Pobega, Ibrahim Sulemana and Ciro Immobile due to injury however, and Lorenzo De Silvestri, who is a regular feature at full-back, is ineligible to be selected.

Aston Villa vs Bologna Odds

Emery's men are 5/6 favourites for Thursday's contest, giving them an implied win probability of 54.5%, while Bologna are 7/2 and the draw is a 5/2 chance.

Ollie Watkins leads the anytime goalscorer market at 5/4, and Orsolini is shortest-priced for the visitors at 11/4.

A repeat of last year's 2-0 win for Villa can be backed at 15/2, and if you fancy plenty of goals, over 2.5 total goals is available at 11/10.

Under 1.5 total goals @ 21/10

It's hard to make a convincing case for Thursday's contest to be a thriller.

Villa have scored just two goals across six competitive matches this term, and for one reason or another, can't find their shooting boots. In fact, the underlying metrics further back this up, as Emery's men are bottom of the Premier League expected goals (xG) chart with 3.85.

Similarly, Villa's opponents on Thursday aren't exactly prolific themselves. Three of Bologna's four Serie A matches have produced just a solitary goal, and the Italians have only scored twice from open play.

Bologna haven't conceded more than one goal in any of their matches this season either, so we're anticipating a low-scoring contest at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins to score anytime @ 5/4

If Villa do manage to grind out a narrow victory, we reckon Ollie Watkins can be the difference-maker for Emery.

The 29-year-old is still searching for his first goal of the season, but he leads Villa in touches in the opposition penalty area, total attempts, shots on target and big chances, suggesting that his maiden strike of the campaign isn't too far away.

The England international could only muster the one goal in the Champions League last term, and he'll be desperate to improve his goal return on the European stage this season.

Offers

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Opt in and place an In-Play single bet of £10 or more at odds of 1/2+ on EFL Cup, Europa League or Europa Conference League match on Tuesday or Wednesday and get £5 in Free Bets to use In-Play on Thursday’s Europa League or Europa Conference League matches.