Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Champions League clash between Aston Villa and Juventus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Champions League rookies Aston Villa will seek a home hat-trick on Wednesday evening, when they host Italian giants Juventus.
While Unai Emery‘s men have recently faltered, they previously posted two wins from two at Villa Park in Europe’s top competition – although defeat would see Juve overtake them in the league table.
Match preview
Surpassing even the most optimistic fan’s expectations, Aston Villa started their first Champions League campaign with three straight wins, seeing off Young Boys in Switzerland, before memorably beating Bayern Munich in Birmingham, where Bologna were also dispatched three weeks later.
Earlier this month, though, the Premier League side suffered a 1-0 loss away to Club Brugge, amid a significant downturn in fortunes both in Europe and on the domestic scene.
Villa have won only five of their first 12 league matches following a 2-2 home draw with struggling Crystal Palace last weekend, when they twice had to come from behind to snatch a point, with Ross Barkley scoring a late leveller at Villa Park.
Just before the international break, a 2-0 loss at Liverpool was the Villans’ fourth in a row across all competitions, and they have recently slipped down to eighth place in the English top flight.
Nonetheless, they have won eight of their last nine European games on home turf, with the exception being a first-leg defeat by Olympiacos in last term’s Conference League semi-finals.
Such is his vast experience in Europe, Unai Emery has already beaten Juventus twice before in the Champions League – with Sevilla in 2015 and Villarreal seven years later – and Villa’s Basque boss actually coached Juve manager Thiago Motta at Paris Saint-Germain.
He now leads the Lions into their first meeting with the Bianconeri since a European Cup clash in 1983, when Aston Villa lost 5-2 on aggregate to end their defence of the trophy.
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Juventus would go on to lose to Hamburg in the decider that year, one of seven final defeats for a club that has been crowned champions of Europe twice to date.
Despite being renowned as continental heavyweights down the decades, Juve’s record on English soil is similarly dismal, having won on just three of their last 15 visits – losing nine times in the process.
More recently, the Turin club’s sole success in seven Champions League road trips came earlier this season, when they defied the odds to beat RB Leipzig 3-2 with only 10 men.
Having kicked off their comeback campaign with wins against PSV Eindhoven and then Leipzig, their momentum has since stalled; though a last-gasp 1-0 loss to Stuttgart remains their only defeat of the whole season. Across all competitions, Motta’s men have both won and drawn eight times this term, including a 1-1 result in Lille earlier this month.
With seven points from four Champions League fixtures, Juventus now enter the second half of their quest to qualify for the knockout rounds on the back of yet another stalemate, having played out a grim goalless draw with AC Milan on Saturday evening.
Nonetheless, they are the only unbeaten side left in Serie A after 13 matches, boasting the best defensive record in Italy’s top flight – just seven goals conceded and nine clean sheets so far.
In the thick of a wide-open title race – in which six teams are separated by four points – Juve are determined to get their hands back on the Scudetto after a few fallow years, but they must also keep one eye on ensuring progress in Europe.
Aston Villa Champions League form:
Aston Villa form (all competitions):
Juventus Champions League form:
Juventus form (all competitions):
Team News
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Unai Emery’s options have been thinned out over the past few weeks, as Jacob Ramsey (hamstring) and Amadou Onana (foot) have picked up injuries, with the latter missing Saturday’s game after pulling out of Belgium’s second UEFA Nations League fixture.
French midfielder Boubacar Kamara and England defender Ezri Konsa are also expected to miss out on meeting Juventus, so Ross Barkley and Matty Cash may start in midweek.
Up front, Ollie Watkins – scorer of Villa’s first equaliser against Palace – will once more try to hold off the challenge of rival Jhon Duran, who has found the net in both of his Champions League appearances at Villa Park this season.
Juve’s undisputed spearhead is Dusan Vlahovic, who has been directly involved in five goals from six Champions League away games to date, but after limping out of Serbia’s recent draw with Denmark he is still struggling with a thigh problem.
As his deputy Arkadiusz Milik will not return to action until next year, Thiago Motta opted for an attack without a central striker versus Milan, though that proved pretty ineffective.
Furthermore, South American defensive duo Bremer and Juan Cabal have both succumbed to ACL injuries this season, while Argentinian winger Nico Gonzalez (thigh) is also sidelined.
Former Villa Park favourite Douglas Luiz and the man who almost joined Villa as the Brazilian’s replacement, Weston McKennie, are both doubts due to muscular issues.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Barkley, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Weah
We say: Aston Villa 0-1 Juventus
Not only are Juventus generally tough to break down, but Aston Villa have also been short of their fluent best since the end of October.
In spite of all their absences, Juve have sufficient supplies of grit and nous to heap more misery onto their ailing hosts, whose growing wait for a win will go on.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
