STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Thu: Aston Villa v Bologna

It’s relatively early days in the 2025/26 season, but trends are beginning to show themselves across Europe and there’s reason for Aston Villa to worry, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

They are one of just two sides yet to win in five Premier League games, having faced what is on paper one of the lest testing schedules. They have scored one goal domestically, a deflected shot against range against 10-man Sunderland on Sunday, a game they went onto draw. They have not been particularly unlucky either, having created the xG in the division (3.9), second fewest ‘big chances’ (6) and conceding the second highest xGA (8.4) according to Opta and Sporting Life.

There’s time for Unai Emery – a master of this competition who has with a trio of successes with Sevilla and one with Villarreal to his name – to arrest the slide, but for now they are a shadow of the side that reached last season’s Champions League quarter-finals, which included a 2-0 home win against tonight’s opponents in the league phase.

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Aston Villa v Bologna
UEFA Europa League Group Stage
20:00 TNT Sports 1 HD / Discovery+

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
OCT 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP PHASE Aston Villa 2-0 Bologna

ASTON VILLA
SEP 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 0-0 Aston Villa
AUG 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 2-3 Everton
AUG 2025 ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP Everton 2-0 Mansfield
AUG 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Everton 2-0 Brighton
AUG 2025 PREMIER LEAGUE Leeds 1-0 Everton

BOLOGNA
SEP 2025 SERIE A Bologna 2-1 Genoa
SEP 2025 SERIE A Milan 1-0 Bologna
AUG 2025 SERIE A Bologna 1-0 Como
AUG 2025 SERIE A Roma 1-0 Bologna

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Bologna struggled in last season’s Champions League with four defeats and ann exit at the league phase but they improved domestically to take the Coppa Italia last season alongside a ninth place finish in Serie A.

Their season has been a mixed bag so far – Two home wins – including Saturday’s last-gasp defeat of Genoa – have come either side of two away defeats at Roma and AC Milan, so head coach Vincenzo Italiano will hope his team travel better this week.

That said, they appear to be in better shape than the hosts, who make no appeal at ? with starsports.bet, and given the directions the two teams have take this season, backing Boloogna to avoid defeat is the most appealing option in the match odds.

This has the potential to be a low scoring game given Villa’s struggles – and the fact the visitors haven’t scored away from home this season, so both Under 1.5 and 2.5 goals are of interest, whilst the 9/1 on no goalscorer looks much too big and should give backers a decent run for their money.

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PROFIT/LOSS (SEP 2025): -8.48 points

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