Aston Villa vs PSG prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-04-14 19:00.
[p]Aston Villa’s first ever UEFA Champions League (UCL) campaign hangs by a thread after PSG eventually put them to the sword in a 3-1 first-leg defeat. They bounced back to boost their top-five aspirations in their domestic league by winning 3-0 at Southampton at the weekend while at the same time becoming the first Premier League team to see three different substitutes score in a game. [/p]
[p]History suggests that Unai Emery and his Villa side aren’t out of this tie as they have progressed in seven of 12 European ties in which they lost the first leg away from home. Adding some extra confidence may be Villa’s favourable home record against French sides (W3, L1), or their ten wins across their last 12 European home games (D1, L1), which includes multi-goal margin victories in their last three UCL home successes. [/p]
[p]Desperate to finally win the UCL, Ligue 1 winners and 2020 UCL finalists PSG make the trip to Birmingham after a weekend of pure preparation thanks to the postponement of their scheduled league game. The Parisians have marginally had the better of five clashes against Premier League opponents already this season (W3, L2), although their win at Liverpool in the round of 16 ended a four-game losing run away in England. [/p]
[p]PSG’s record of progression in the quarter-final stage of the UCL is evenly split (W4, L4), yet history suggests that Luis Enrique’s men have the edge here after progressing from 13 of their 19 ties when winning the first leg at home. There is a note of caution though, as while PSG’s UCL away form shows that they’ve been respectable since the start of 2023/24 on their travels (W6, D1, L5), their only two defeats by 2+ goal margins in that time came against English sides. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Morgan Rogers gave Villa an unlikely lead in the first leg, although their eventual defeat means that all 15 of his scoring appearances for the club saw both teams score and over 2.5 goals. PSG’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has attempted at least five shots in each of his last three UCL games and his superb goal in the first leg made it five goal involvements across his last four games for club & country (G3, A2). [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Villa boss Emery is unbeaten in 12 of his last 13 European home games as a manager (W11, D1, L1). [/p]
[p][i]Written by Matthew Billon[/i][/p]