Aston Villa vs Legia prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-11-29 20:00.
Aston Villa continue to go from strength-to-strength under manager Unai Emery, with their 2-1 away win against Tottenham at the weekend seeing them leapfrog the Londoners into fourth, further demonstrating their remarkable rise. They’re on the brink of reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) knockout stages too, simply needing to avoid defeat against Legia Warsaw to rubber stamp their ticket to springtime European football if the group’s other game between AZ Alkmaar and Zrinjski doesn’t end level.
They won’t be willing to settle for just a draw here though, as they find themselves locked on nine points with Legia at the top of Group E. Crucially though, it’s Legia who hold the H2H advantage after winning the reverse fixture 3-2 on matchday one, but having won each of their three home UECL games this term (inc qualifiers), Villa ought to be confident of taking their revenge and tipping their H2H record against Polish opposition (W1, D1, L1) in their favour.
Travelling without the burden of requiring victory here to wrestle a stronghold on top spot, Legia would probably be content with the point that would secure their progression into the knockouts. That’s not to say they won’t want to win, as they know victory in the Midlands would seal first place in the group and see them advance to the last-16 rather than the round of 32.
Given they’ve never won away in European competition against English opposition (D1, L2), that appears a tall order for the 15-time Ekstraklasa champions. They have demonstrated their ability to win on the road, emerging victorious in their last three competitive road trips, and with two of those accompanied by a clean sheet, they’ll be keen to show that their 2-2 domestic draw against Warta Poznań at the weekend, a result that ended a run of four shutouts, was just a blip.
Players to watch: An Ollie Watkins goal is usually a good omen for Villa, who have won on his last 13 scoring appearances, while his last six strikes have come after half-time. Villa are a familiar foe for Legia’s Paweł Wszołek, who has faced them five times in his career having spent time at QPR, registering two goals and three assists in those games, including one of each in the reverse H2H.
Hot streak: The home side on the day has opened the scoring in all four of Legia’s UECL group games this term.