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Steffen Schmidt - August 29, 2023
Aston Villa vs Hibernian
UEFA Conference League Qualification
Date: 31 August 2023, Thursday
Kick-off at 20:00 UK / 21:00 CET
Venue: Villa Park (Birmingham).
Aston Villa have all but secured the group stage of the UEFA Conference League with a demolishing 5-0 victory over Hibernian eight days ago in Edinburgh.
Ollie Watkins and Lucas Digne starred in the Scottish capital, leading the English outfit to a commanding victory. The former completed a hat-trick of goals while the latter added a hat-trick of assists to the drubbing of the Scots.
The rematch in Birmingham is only a formality and it will be very interesting to see whether Unai Emery will rest his entire first squad knowing the Lions have a difficult Premier League clash against Liverpool on schedule on Sunday.
Aston Villa are generally on a hot run of form with three consecutive wins after the tough 5-1 defeat to Newcastle at the start of the new Premier League campaign.
Emery’s men have bagged 12 goals in the previous three matches in all competitions, a run that involves a 1-3 road win at Burnley on Sunday afternoon.
The story is completely different with the Hibs who are not pulling up any trees at the beginning of the season.
David Gray’s men are yet to pick up point(s) in the new Premiership campaign, falling 2-3 to Livingston on Saturday afternoon.
The Hibs now have three defeats in three Scottish Premiership outings, a run that saw them concede eight goals.
This is by no means the kind of form you want to have going into the away clash with a much stronger opposition.
It is very hard to back anything other than Aston Villa’s comprehensive victory in this matchup. The gulf in quality between the two teams is enormous and the Hibs just don’t look capable of defending even against the low-profile teams in their domestic league these days.
You can back the hosts to win by three or more goals difference at the 2.10 odds while we will take the same odds for the Over 1.5 goals in the first half pick.
