Aston Villa are aiming to continue their hugely impressive start to the season when they host Italian side Bologna in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Unai Emery’s side have lost just once this term – a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League – and have shown their worth in the Champions League with victories over Young Boys and Bayern Munich. The Midlands club are currently sixth in the league phase table and will want to make it a third successive European win on Tuesday.
Bologna upset the odds to qualify for the Champions League but have endured a tough start to the 2024/25 season. Following the departure of former manager Thiago Motta, the Serie A side have found victories hard to come by, securing just one in all competitions. They have been tough to beat, however, with just two defeats to their name.
Here is 90min‘s guide to Aston Villa vs Bologna.
Aston Villa vs Bologna H2H Record
This is the first competitive fixture between Aston Villa and Bologna.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Aston Villa |
Bologna |
|---|---|
|
Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa – 19/10/24 |
Genoa 2-2 Bologna – 19/10/24 |
|
Aston Villa 0-0 Man Utd – 06/10/24 |
Bologna 0-0 Parma – 06/10/24 |
|
Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich – 02/10/24 |
Liverpool 2-0 Bologna – 02/10/24 |
|
Ipswich 2-2 Aston Villa – 29/09/24 |
Bologna 1-1 Atalanta – 28/09/24 |
|
Wycombe 1-2 Aston Villa – 24/09/24 |
Monza 1-2 Bologna – 22/10/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate, discovery+, discovery+ App |
|
United States |
Paramount+, ViX, fuboTV, CBS Sports Network |
|
Canada |
DAZN |
John McGinn made a welcome return to action off the bench during the weekend’s 3-1 win over Fulham, with the Scotsman having been sidelined for around a month. Boubacar Kamara had been missing since February but the midfielder was named on the bench at Craven Cottage.
Tyrone Mings has been another long-term absentee but he could feature in Tuesday’s squad after over a year out of action. However, back-up goalkeeper Robin Olsen will miss out with a head injury.
Emery has been reluctant to make too many alterations between Premier League and Champions League games this season, meaning he could field a very similar lineup to the one that won in west London at the weekend.
Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Bologna (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins.
Bologna have a mountain of injuries heading to Villa Park, including Villa loanee Samuel Iling-Junior. He’s joined by Michel Aebischer, Martin Erlic and Lewis Ferguson in the treatment room.
Swiss forward Dan Ndoye, who caused Liverpool problems in Bologna’s last European outing, missed the weekend’s draw with Genoa but could return this Tuesday. The same applies to Moroccan defender Oussama El Azzouzi, who is yet to play this season.
Bologna predicted lineup vs Aston Villa (4-1-4-1): Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Miranda; Freuler; Orsolini, Urbanski, Moro, Ndoye; Dallinga.
Bologna have been draw specialists this season with seven of their nine matches finishing without a winner. However, they have had a pretty favourable run of fixtures at the start of the new campaign against some of Serie A‘s weaker sides.
While they showed their teeth against Liverpool in defeat, it seems unlikely that the Italian side will be able to better their result at Anfield when they return to England. They have scored just nine times in eight Serie A matches and haven’t been particularly inspiring at the back.
Villa find themselves in tremendous form as they continue to juggle European football and the Premier League seamlessly. They have been electric in front of goal this term and have earned clean sheets against Bayern Munich and Manchester United in two of their last three fixtures.
