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Steffen Schmidt - August 22, 2023
Hibernian vs Aston Villa
UEFA Conference League Qualification
Date: 23 August 2023, Wednesday
Kick-off at 17:45 UK / 18:45 CET
Venue: Easter Road Stadium (Edinburgh).
Aston Villa return to European football for the first time after more than a decade. They will begin their 2023/24 UEFA Conference League adventures with the trip to Easter Road Stadium and the clash against Scottish Premiership side Hibernian on Wednesday afternoon.
This will be a huge occasion for the Hibs’ fans as you don’t get the chance to watch a top-half English Premier League side in Edinburgh that often in a competitive game.
Obviously, the English outfit are massive favorites both on the day and over two legs and we have all reasons to expect them to justify the tag on the pitch.
The Villains have successfully bounced back from a tough 5-1 defeat to Newcastle on the opening day of the season at St. James’ Park. They responded with a 4-0 hammering of Everton on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham.
That impressive attacking display will serve as a huge confidence-booster for Unai Emery’s troops ahead of the tie against the leaky back line of Hibernians’.
The Hibs just can’t seem to be able to keep things quiet at the back these days. They allowed five goals in the opening two defeats to St. Mirren and Motherwell at the beginning of the new season in the Scottish top flight.
On top of this, Lee Johnson’s squad failed to keep a single clean sheet across four European games this summer, despite facing the likes of Andorran Inter Club d’Escaldes twice in the process.
The difference in quality between these sides is huge and we expect Villa to cruise to an easy win past the non-existent defensive line of Hibernian’s.
The main pick will be Aston Villa to win by two or more goals difference at the 1.75 odds while we also like Ollie Watkins to score anytime at the 1.72 odds.
