Aston Villa – Bologna

The rivals will play cautiously at their own goal in the head-to-head match.

Aston Villa spent the last European club season in the Champions League. Not only that, the "Villans" reached the playoffs, where they narrowly lost to the future winner of the elite European tournament - PSG. Aston Villa won the home leg of that duel 3-2 but could have won by a larger margin. Donnarumma saved the Parisians multiple times. Unai Emery has raised the bar for the Birmingham club so high that many fans have forgotten that the "Villans" spent three seasons in the Championship at the end of the last decade and finished fourteenth in the Premier League in 2022. Right now, Aston Villa is experiencing a tough period in the national championship, which is why the Spanish coach has the task of preparing the team for Bologna in a way that does not disrupt the build-up to the planned match against Fulham in two full days. Bologna itself also played in the Champions League last year, but was much less successful there. In the recent Serie A campaign, the team also struggled. The season was salvaged by an unexpected victory in the Coppa Italia, where Bologna triumphed over Milan in the final. The guests have much lower expectations for results right now, so they will arrive in Birmingham to play "second fiddle". Bookmakers have made the home side the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.74 on their victory. Aston Villa unexpectedly started the Premier League season poorly. The "Villans" were somewhat passive in the transfer market during the off-season. The club signed Hesse, Sancho, and Lindelof, and also took Elliott on loan. The indicated players are being introduced into the squad cautiously by Emery, but are likely to get more playing time in the upcoming match. In the four opening rounds of the Premier League, Aston Villa has not scored a single goal. The team picked up two points through "goalless" draws. Bologna was more active in the transfer market, both selling and buying players. All three of their Serie A matches ended with a score of 1-0: they lost to Roma and Milan, and beat Como. Bologna's style of play remains the same. The team primarily focuses on defending their own goal and only then on the possibility of scoring, if such an opportunity arises from the opponent. Aston Villa will also play cautiously as their squad will be somewhat experimental.