Aston Villa’s European odyssey continues, with a home tie in the Europa Conference League against Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia and Herzegovina (20:00). We’ve taken a look at the fixture and given you our best bets.
Aston Villa vs Zrinjski Mostar Betting Tips
Aston Villa (1/10) are huge favourites to win this one, despite sitting bottom of Group E, after their opening week loss to Legia Warsaw. Meanwhile, Zrinjski (25/1) are top of the league, after a 4-3 thriller against AZ Alkmaar, in Mostar.
Unai Emery’s men have been frustratingly inconsistent this season, demolishing high-flying Brighton 6-1 at the weekend, as well as defeating the likes of Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Everton in the league. However losses to Newcastle, Legia and Everton in the cup have exposed the squad strength at times.
Nevertheless, Villa are sat in 5th in the Premier League and will be expecting to turn over the Bosnian minnows with ease here.
The Mostar outfit have had an identical start to the Villans, with five wins and two defeats in their opening seven fixtures and sit in fourth in the Bosnian Premier League. A point away from home at a huge club like Villa would be a huge filip for manager Krunoslav Rendulić.
Team news
Emery is without Tyrone Mings, Leon Bailey and Alex Moreno but Moussa Diaby and Boubacar Kamara are expected to be fit for this one, despite both picking up knocks against Brighton.
Zrinjski should face no new injury issues and should start a similar side that beat Alkmaar.
Aston Villa to win and both teams to score – 9/4
Villa should win this one comfortably but this Zrinjski team will be no pushovers, as evidenced by their win over Alkmaar.
The Mostar side have scored 16 goals in just seven games in their domestic league and seem to have no issues creating and scoring chances.
Meanwhile, Villa have kept just two clean sheets from seven games and have a tendency to ship goals. This one looks a good candidate for BTTS.
Nemanja Bilbija to score – 9/2
I was surprised to see Bilbija as high as 9/2 to score in the West Midlands on Thursday night, given that he is 2nd top scorer in the Bosnian Premier League with six.
The 32-year-old topped the charts last season with 24 goals from 30 games, so is clearly a prolific finisher.
I like the odds on offer here for him to grab a consolation effort.
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