Aston Villa vs Club Brugge prediction: Unai Emery’s men to advance in style | OneFootball

Aston Villa have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 lead over Club Brugge from the first leg and they will be looking for an easy night when they meet at Villa Park on Wednesday (8pm, TNT Sports 1).

Leon Bailey, Marco Asensio, and Brandon Mechele's own goal gave Villa an impressive win at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges last week.

Maxim De Cuyper had cancelled out Bailey’s early opener with just his second goal of the season before Villa’s late pressure paid off and they scored twice in the last eight minutes.

Villa followed up that win with an impressive three points on Saturday when Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game, as Unai Emery’s side won at Brentford to keep them in the hunt for the Champions League places.

They sit just two points and three places below fifth-placed Manchester City with 10 games left to play.

It’s no surprise to see Villa taking a lead into the second leg, after all, they finished eighth in the league phase of the Champions League with 16 points from their eight games, while Wednesday’s opponents finished in the final play-off place with 11 points.

They stunned Atalanta 5-2 on aggregate in their play-off tie, scoring just two less than they managed in their group games.

Nicky Hayen’s side won 3-1 away in Italy to set up the last 16 clash with Villa, so they can’t be underestimated but that was one of only two away wins in the competition this season. The other came away Sturm Graz back in October when Christos Tzolis scored the only goal of the game and it’s fair to say Villa are tougher opponents.

Aston Villa vs Club Brugge Betting Tips: Villa to progress

The visitors go into the game with just one win from their last four matches and that came at the weekend as they beat local rivals Cercle Bruges 3-1, thanks to two goals from Ferran Jutgla after Hans Vanaken had opened the scoring.

But they have never won away in England in a major European competition in 14 attempts, losing 12, including their last five visits. Only Anderlecht (18) and Dynamo Kyiv (15) have played more in England without ever winning.

It’s been 43 years since Villa last hosted a Belgian side in any European competition and that was Anderlecht in the European Cup semi-final. They won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tony Morley and went on to lift the trophy in Rotterdam - could that be a sign?

Football betting sites price Villa at 33/1 for European glory this time around and while that might be a big ask, they look more likely to oblige at 4/6 to win on Wednesday. Brugge are 17/4 outsiders and you can get 7/2 on a draw.

The Villains could become the ninth different English side to qualify for a UEFA Champions League quarter-final, which would be the most teams from a single nation to have done so, moving one clear of current joint-leaders Spain.

They have progressed from 12 of their previous 14 major European ties when they’ve won the first leg and it’s hard to see any way that they are not in the quarter-finals especially when Club Brugge have been eliminated from European competitions on each of the six times they have lost the first leg at home.

Betting sites are all backing Villa to go through at 1/40 to qualify, while Club Brugge are 10/1 to advance.

Between them, Villa and Brugge have been involved in 11 Champions League games featuring more than 2.5 goals and we are expecting goals in this one. After all, the Belgian side have to go for it and have conceded in eight of their 11 games.

Their only clean sheets came against Sturm Graz, Juventus and Villa when Hans Vanaken converted a controversial penalty to secure a surprise 1-0 win in the league phase.

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