Aston Villa vs Juventus Prediction: Villans to return to winning ways against Old Lady

Aston Villa and Juventus both made strong starts to their Uefa Champions League campaigns this season, with the former winning their first three games and the latter collecting maximum points in their first two. However, Villa suffered a 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge last time out in the competition while Juve are winless in their last two having lost 1-0 to Stuttgart and drawn 1-1 with Lille OSC.

Below is my Aston Villa vs Juventus prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this league phase meeting at Villa Park on Wednesday (20:00, TNT Sports 2).

Team News

Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana remain unavailable for Aston Villa having missed Saturday's 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

The good news is that Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara are fit enough to return to the squad with both potential starters on Wednesday. Konsa is likely to come in for Lamare Bogarde at right-back, or the England international could come in for Diego Carlos at centre-back with Matty Cash being promoted to the starting XI. Ross Barkley, who struck Villa's equaliser on the weekend, could make way if head coach Unai Emery opts for a more defensive midfield option in Kamara.

Jhon Duran, Emiliano Buendia and Jaden Philogene are also itching for starting opportunities but Emery may resist any changes in attack and place faith in Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers again, with John McGinn continuing from the left-hand side.

Football Odds

Juventus boss Thiago Motta has a whole host of absentees to contend with in midweek. Former Villa star Douglas Luiz, who swapped Birmingham for Turin during the summer, hasn't appeared in any of the Old Lady's last seven games - only making the bench in one - and hasn't been named in their squad for Wednesday's league phase match.

Top scorer Dusan Vlahovic has also been left out after struggling with an injury suffered on international duty with Serbia earlier this month. Weston McKennie, Nicolas Gonzalez, Arkadiusz Milik, Juan Cabal and Bremer are also missing in what is a skeleton squad taken by the Italian giants.

Aston Villa vs Juventus Odds

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Aston Villa are 13/10 to return to winning ways after a six-game winless run that has included four defeats. Those odds hand the Villans an implied probability of 43.5% while Juventus are 11/5, or a 31.2% chance, to claim all three points in England.

The draw is priced at 11/5, both teams to score at 5/6, and over 2.5 total goals at 6/5.

Watkins (15/8) heads the anytime goalscorer market followed by Duran (11/5), Rogers (11/4) and Juve's Kenan Yildiz (7/2).

Match Result & Total Goals Over/Under 2.5 - Aston Villa & Under 2.5 @ 100/30

Villa are a great price to win on Wednesday, in my opinion. Motta has named just 17 players in his squad for the game, electing not to take any youth players to supplement his stretched side. Three of those named are goalkeepers, meaning the former Italy international has just 14 outfield players to choose from - hardly ideal for a side that has won just one of their last three away games.

Of course, Villa haven't won a game in any competition since beating Bologna 2-0 on October 22, but they did snap out of a four-match losing run on Saturday when they came from behind twice to draw with Palace.

Emery is also boosted by the return to fitness of Konsa and Kamara, two key players for the Spaniard, particularly in terms of trying to keep a clean sheet.

Villa's defence is yet to be breached at home in the Champions League with neither Bayern Munich (2-0) nor Bologna managing to find the net in defeats.

Juventus are unbeaten on their travels in Europe this season but are missing nine-goal top scorer Vlahovic who has struck three times in the Champions League.

I think they will find it tough on Wednesday without a recognised striker, so take on Villa to keep a clean sheet.

Emery's side should be good for all three points at Villa Park but I don't think we'll see too many strikes considering their last two wins in Europe have under 2.5 goals.

Juve, meanwhile, have seen their last five games finish with two goals or fewer and have failed to score on five occasions this season, drawing 0-0 with AS Roma, Empoli, Napoli and AC Milan - the latter coming on Saturday - and losing 1-0 to Stuttgart.

Anytime Goalscorer - Ollie Watkins (AVL) @ 15/8

Duran keeps knocking at the door but it seems Emery's faith in Watkins is unwavering, despite Villa number 11 going through some barren goalscoring runs this season.

The 28-year-old failed to find the net in his final five Villa games before the November international break but, buoyed by opening the scoring for England in their recent 3-0 win over Greece in Athens, he started his club side's weekend clash with Palace and struck their first equaliser, cancelling out Ismaila Sarr's fourth-minute effort.

I'm expecting Watkins to get the nod again on Wednesday, meaning Duran will have to reprise his super-sub role again. Last season's top scorer should get some joy against Juve at Villa Park with the Old Lady set to name a severely weakened side. First-choice defenders Cabal and Bremer are both out injured, so Watkins will especially fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet.

At 15/8, he's worth taking on, in my opinion.

Offers

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