Aston Villa vs Ajax Prediction & Match Preview

• Eight of Villa’s last nine outings across competitions produced three or more goals.
• Ajax shipped five goals in the last two away games in Eredivisie.
• The Villains won all four home outings in this term of UEFA Conference League.

Aston Villa need to forget the painful 0-4 defeat at the hands of Tottenham as they play host to Dutch powerhouse Ajax in the return leg of the UEFA Conference League last-16 round on Thursday evening. The Villains have been a force in Birmingham so far in the season but they got brutally outplayed by direct top-four rivals Spurs on Sunday afternoon.

The loss to Tottenham ended Villa’s thread of three subsequent Premier League wins. The Lions are still fourth in the domestic league table but they now sit just two points above Spurs who also have a game in hand.

As for Ajax, they continued their horrendous campaign in this term of Eredivisie by playing a 2-2 stalemate against Fortuna Sittard on Sunday. De Godenzonen are fifth in the Dutch top-flight table, sitting as many as 29 points below leaders PSV. Johannes van ‘t Schip’s men needed an extra-time winner to eliminate Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in the previous Conference League round.

Recent Meetings

• We did not see goals in the reverse game seven days ago in Amsterdam.
• These two sides had only met each other once before the last week’s tie. It happened in the 2008/09 UEFA Europa League group phase when Aston Villa claimed a 2-1 victory on the home patch.

Aston Villa vs Ajax Prediction

Both teams opted for a rather careful approach in the first leg of this tie. We were surprised to witness only three shots combined from these two outfits in a goalless draw last week in Amsterdam. The rematch should bring us a different scenario, though.

Villa will desperately want to regain momentum after a tough 0-4 loss to Spurs at the weekend. They have generally been playing attacking football since the turn of the year. Eight of the previous nine outings they played in all competitions saw at least three goals scored. The lone exception was just the last week’s goalless draw on Dutch soil.

Ajax will go into this off the back of a 2-2 draw to Fortuna Sittard in the weekend’s Eredivisie action. Both of their knockout-round playoffs clashes against Bodo/Glimt also saw goals scored at both ends. The Over 2.5 goals FT pick is our main betting option at the 1.53 odds.

The quality is on Villa’s side. After all, they have won all four home outings in Conference League this season. Unai Emery’s men had also been on a three-win thread in the Premier League before falling to Tottenham on Sunday.

Ajax took just one point from three away outings in their UEFA Europa League group. They fell 0-2 at the hands of Brighton in October last year on English soil. Ajax’s recent form has not been much better.

De Godenzonen suffered two defeats in the previous two domestic league matches on the road. You can back Aston Villa to have the lead at the half time and win the match at the end at the 2.10 odds.

Steffen Schmidt- March 12, 2024

Aston Villa vs Ajax Betting Tips

Over 2.5 goals

OK

1.55 Odds

HT/FT Aston Villa/Aston Villa

OK

	2.10 Odds
	1.94 Odds

Correct Score: Aston Villa 3-1

OK

	11.00 Odds
	10.00 Odds