STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Wed: Aston Villa v Bayern Munich

Good times have been back at Aston Villa for over a season now and anticipation is sure to be high when Bayern Munich visit in their second Champions League game, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

Under the leadership of Unai Emery, Villa secured a deserved top-four finish last season and they have made a strong start to the season, sitting fifth after six games – a position that arguably should be higher given how many chances they created against Arsenal at home when they were hugely unlucky not to take a point, let alone lose.

A 2-2 draw at promoted Ipswich – after recovering from conceding in the eighth minute – will probably read as two points dropped in the grand scheme of things, and if there is a negative for Villa so far this season, it’s that we haven’t seen the very best of them across a whole 90 minutes.

Villa came from a goal behind to beat Wolves 3-1 a week after fighting back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Everton at Villa Park, went down early on Sunday and have generally shown their best in bursts rather than dominating games completely.

When Villa have been on form, including an extremely impressive 3-0 win at Young Boys in their first gameweek, Ollie Watkins – ? for a goal tonight – John Duran, Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemans have all impressed – and Emi Martinez has also produced some top saves. However, they have had periods of vulnerability that a side like Bayern could absolutely exploit.

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Aston Villa v Bayern Munich
Champions League Group Phase
Villa Park, Birmingham
Kick-Off: 20:00
Live on TNT Sports 1 HD / TNT Sports Ultimate / Discovery +

HEAD-TO-HEAD

MAY 1982 Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich

ASTON VILLA
SEP 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Ipswich 2-2 Aston Villa
SEP 2024 CARABAO CUP Wycombe 1-2 Aston Villa
SEP 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 3-1 Wolves
SEP 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa
SEP 2024 PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa 3-2 Everton

BAYERN MUNICH
SEP 2024 BUNDESLIGA Bayern Munich 1-1 B Leverkusen
SEP 2024 BUNDESLIGA W Bremen 0-5 Bayern Munich
SEP 2024 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb
SEP 2024 BUNDESLIGA Holstein Kiel 1-6 Bayern Munich
SEP 2024 BUNDESLIGA Bayern Munich 2-0 Freiburg

⭐ ASTON VILLA V BAYERN MUNICH MATCH MARKETS ⭐

It’s arguable that Vincent Kompany’s first true test in his time here was on Saturday, when his Bayern side faced Bundesliga Champions Bayer Leverkusen and drew 1-1 in a game that saw Xabi Alonso set up to frustrate Bayern, with Harry Kane – a doubt for this clash – very isolated.

Bayern won the shot count 18-3, the corner count 6-1, and the xG count 1.38 to 0.06 (Sporting Life), but were unable to find a finishing touch with Kane removed from the game, for all that Michael Olise ( ? to score anytime), Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry and Joshua Kimmich all controlled large parts of the game.

Kompany will be frustrated that they couldn’t find a winner but for his first serious test it was no disaster and the sheer weight of attacking talent has already seen Bayern finding the back of the net for fun – they’d scored 20 in three games before meeting Leverkusen, nine of them coming against Dinamo Zagreb in the opening matchday.

Understandably, Kompany’s attacking and open style is working far better here than it ever did when Burnley were promoted to the Premier League, and we can expect an aggressive approach here based on what we’ve seen so far.

Calling this game is a tricky task – Aston Villa have shown vulnerability at times this season but they’ve also impressed when on form, and their home record against the Premier League’s best speaks for itself, whilst Bayern impressed against Leverkusen after going 1-0 down but are otherwise untested, especially away from home.

Six of Villa’s eight matches this season have seen both teams score – and it was a miracle save from David Raya that meant they didn’t get on the scoresheet against Arsenal, whilst seven of them have gone over 2.5 goals. Bayern have scored over 30 goals since Vincent Kompany took over in the dugout and look likely to maintain an attacking approach, so over 3.5 goals could be the call here.

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