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Aston Villa host Juventus in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, with Unai Emery’s home side having been in shaky form of late. However, two wins from two at Birmingham’s Villa Park have helped them gain nine points from a possible 12 so far, putting them ahead of Thiago Motta’s Bianconeri visitors, who can take a win here ahead of the Premier League.
Villa have recorded just five wins from their opening 12 EPL games after a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace last weekend. Four successive defeats before the November internationals saw the Villans drop to eighth in the English top flight, but Emery is able to rally his troops in Europe. Both Sevilla and Villarreal have beaten Juve in Europe under the Basque, while he also coached counterpart Motta at Paris Saint-Germain.
This is Villa’s first meeting with Juventus since 1983, when the Italians won 5-2 on aggregate in the European Cup, which the England side tried to defend. Hamburger SV defeated the Oude Dame that year with seven continental final losses to their name, as well as two European title victories. Juve don’t actually have a great record in England with just three wins from their last fifteen visits and nine of those defeats. The Turin giants have won just once in seven games on the road in the Champions League, against RB Leipzig, although after 13 games they are the only unbeaten side in Serie A with just seven goals conceded and nine clean sheets.
Here are our storylines, how to watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Wednesday November 27 | Time: 3:00 PM ET
- Location: Villa Park – Birmingham, England
- Watch: Biggest+
- Chances: Villa +130; Sign +230; Juve +225
Competition phase so far
Villa started their return to the top flight of European football in excellent form with three consecutive wins over Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna, followed by a 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge. However, eight of their last nine home games in Europe have been won by Villa, with the only exception being a UEFA Conference League semi-final defeat to Olympiacos last year. Juve defeated PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig before losing to VfB Stuttgart and drawing with Lille OSC. That defeat in Germany is the only one Motta’s side have lost in all competitions to date, but seven points from 12 means the Bianconeri have work to do if they are to reach the knockout rounds of the UCL.
Team news
Villa: Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana are injured, while Boubacar Kamara and Ezri Konsa are also expected to be missing. Ross Barkley and Matty Cash could start, while Ollie Watkins is under increasing pressure from Jhon Duran, who has scored in both UCL games at Villa Park so far this season.
Possible Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Barkley, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.
Juve: Dusan Vlahovic played a part in five goals from six away games in the Champions League but is struggling with a knock while Arkadiusz Milik is out for the rest of this year. Motta went without a striker against Milan, which didn’t work well, so don’t expect a repeat of that. Bremer and Juan Cabal are absent for a long time, while Nico Gonzalez will also miss. Douglas Luiz and Weston McKennie could also both miss the Brazilian’s return to Villa Park.
Possible Juve XI: Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Woe.
Prediction
This one looks destined to be a draw and possibly a low-scoring match, with Villa tiring and showing signs of strain and Juve missing players despite still being difficult to beat. Choose: Villa 1, Juve 1.