Aston Villa are hoping to maintain top spot in the Champions League and edge themselves ever closer to automatic qualification for the knockouts. Whereas Club Brugge are trying to work their way steadily up the table into the play-off places – and beyond if possible.
Even at this early stage of the competition, the stakes could not be higher, so get ready for a fiery Matchday 4 affair in Bruges.
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Club Brugge vs Aston Villa Preview
Club Brugge have had a mixed start to the season, with inconsistent results and points coming a little more difficult than they were last season. Despite not losing in their last five domestic games, they still sit second in the Pro League with a big, but not insurmountable, seven-point gap between them and leaders Genk.
Andreas Skov Olsen and Hans Vanaken remain the club’s focal points, as they were in their title-winning campaign last term. But there is work to do if they want to be in the title picture come the end of the campaign.
This has translated to the Champions League, where Brugge sit 26th and heading out of the competition as things stand. To give them their fair shake, the level of opponents so far has been high, with their two losses coming at the hands of AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund. But they will build confidence from a 1-0 win over Austrian champions Sturm Graz, although a motivated Villa will be an extremely tough test.
Villa have a perfect Champions League record so far of three wins from three, defeating Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna. But with Juventus and RB Leipzig on the horizon, Unai Emery’s men need all the points they can get if they want to remain in the automatic qualification conversation.
This places even more emphasis on the fixture in Belgium tomorrow, heightened further by their poor spell of form over the last week or so. Villa were dumped out of the EFL Cup by Crystal Palace, before losing 4-1 at Tottenham.
They have looked good in spells, but the goals seem to be harder to come by with striker Ollie Watkins not quite replicating his heroics from last season. But luckily, breakout Colombian star Jhon Duran has stepped up to support him.
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa Odds
The two go into the game relatively tightly, but Villa just edge out as favourites with odds of 2.25 for the win. Brugge are not far behind, the home side are 3.40 to hand the Villains their first European defeat of the season.
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa Betting Tips
*Odds are correct at time of publication and subject to change
Trip Down Emery Lane
With form taken into account, Villa still have more talent available in their squad. They will also be extremely motivated to break their losing streak. So we back Villa to win and both teams to score at 3.60.
Duran Duran
As previously discussed, Emery’s side have had a little more difficulty finding the back of the net this season. But many of their important goals have come from one main source, Duran. The dynamic forward is 2.50 to score anytime and 5.50 to be the first on the scoresheet.
Moulin Bruges
If Brugge are to be a force in this game, they will be relying on the performances of their key players to cause Villa Problems. Skov Olsen is at 3.75 to score anytime, while Vanaken is at 5.00.
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