PSG – Aston Villa

The Paris club will face quite a few challenges in their rivalry with Emery’s team

Despite the fact that bookmakers consider PSG as the clear favourite for the upcoming rivalry with Aston Villa, it is in this quarter-final pairing that a high degree of competition is expected. Offering such low odds on the Parisians, analysts intentionally and accidentally miss at least two important factors about the English team. Firstly, the estimated value of Emery's squad is fourteenth in the world club rankings at around €628 million. That's higher than Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Milan and roughly on par with Inter and Bayer, the reigning Italian and German champions respectively. Secondly, Aston Villa have much more quality game practice than their upcoming opponents. While the Parisians at home are practising at best with Marseille or Monaco, the Villans in the Premier League almost every weekend meet with clubs of Champions League level. Bookmakers have identified the hosts as clear favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.40 on their victory. PSG have struggled to overcome the general stage of the Champions League. After five rounds, even seriously considered the option, in which the Parisians will not take a place in the top-24 and fly past the knockout rounds. However, since January this year, Luis Enrique's team has played at a qualitatively different level. Ousmane Dembele finally took over the role of leader six months after Mbappe's departure, and Brest were defeated in the knockout rounds with ten unanswered goals in two meetings. PSG achieved a real feat in the 1/8 finals, where they beat Liverpool, the main Champions League favourites, by winning at Anfield. If the hosts go into the match with six consecutive victories, Aston Villa has a series of eight. The Villans fans are particularly excited about the two April victories, in which they defeated direct rivals of Emery's team in the fight for a place in the Champions League zone - Brighton and Nottingham Forest. PSG in this meeting will face something in which it has little practice. The opponent will try to establish control of the game and exploit the weaknesses of the Parisians. We bet that the guests will finish the meeting honourably.