Lille vs Aston Villa Prediction: Nothing Unai can do about Giroud

Lille take on Aston Villa in the Europa League round of 16 (17:45 GMT, TNT Sports 1) in a fixture I’m sure they dreamt about during their respective Intertoto Cup campaigns in the 2000s.

Aston Villa won the European Cup in 1982, back when that was something you could do without either being backed by a Gulf nation or being Real Madrid. Lille are an illustrious European side. Not because they’ve won much on the continent, but because you remember watching them on ITV and you were happier then, weren’t you? Thought so. Anyway, here’s the Lille vs Aston Villa predictions. It won’t restore your optimism or your hairline, but I promise we’ll have fun.

Team News

Ethan Mbappe, brother of global superstar Kylian, is sidelined with a thigh injury. Joining him on the Lille injured list is back-up keeper Marc-Aurele Caillard (elbow), Ousmane Toure (knee), Osame Sahraoui (groin) and Hamza Igamane (ACL).

On the Villa side, Unai Emery is dealing with a bustling treatment room. The midfield is shorn of John McGinn (knee) and Youri Tielemans (ankle). There are also injuries to Matty Cash (calf) and Harvey Elliott (unspecified) while Ross Barkley is ineligible as he was not registered for the Europa League squad.

Football Odds

Lille vs Aston Villa Odds

This one is tight. Lille are 9/5 for a win while Villa are priced at 7/5. The draw is on the market at 9/4. More on that in a moment.

Ollie Watkins leads the way in the goalscorer markets, priced at 11/2 to bag first or 2/1 to do so at any time. But there’s another Ollie I’ve opted for…

Draw @ 9/4

Villa have won just one football match since the league phase of this competition concluded on January 28. Villa have draw two and lost two in the Premier League while also getting knocked out of the FA Cup by Newcastle United. That midseason title challenge has burned up in the atmosphere and it feels like Emery’s side are hurtling back to Earth.

Lille had a play-off round to contend with, losing at home to Red Star Belgrade before turning the tide in the second leg. LOSC have gone unbeaten in five in Ligue 1, but have won just two of those games. Goals are hard to come by, but Lille are defensively dogged. Every match in that five-game run has either ended 1-0 to Lille, 1-1 or 0-0. 

That binary-code could be hard to crack for Villa. They have more quality, but they haven’t shown it recently. Still, I reckon the Villans come back with a decent away draw and a foothold for the second leg.

Olivier Giroud to score anytime @ 11/5

Neither side has a standout striker in form. So I’m throwing this over to the x-factor; 39-year-old Olivier Giroud.

Four of his nine goals this term have come in the Europa League. He offers physicality and intelligence. His brain does the running for him. A supremely intelligent footballer, the World Cup-winner will unleash something special to remind the watching British audience just who Villa are dealing with.

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