The Europa League is back and Aston Villa are hoping to start off with a win in their home match against Bologna. The season hasn’t started well for Unai Emery’s side this campaign, and they desperately need to turn things around as soon as possible. Have a look at our betting tips for this Europa League match, as well as some of the best football sign up offers currently available at UK betting sites.
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Aston Villa vs Bologna Betting Tips
Our betting expert has three Aston Villa vs Bologna tips for Thursday’s Europa League match at Villa Park (kick-off 8pm). Scroll down for the analysis behind his selections.
- Draw @ 12/5
- Santiago Castro to be first goalscorer @ 9/1
- Bet Builder – Aston Villa under 0.5 first-half goals, Harvey Elliott 2+ shots & Remo Freuler to be booked @ 8/1
Struggling hosts may have to settle for a point
Aston Villa are favourites to win the Europa League, but they go into their opening league phase fixture under pressure after a poor start to the season.
Unai Emery’s men are winless in the Premier League, having scored only one goal in five matches, while they also lost on penalties to Brentford in last week’s EFL Cup third-round tie.
Their lack of confidence was apparent on Sunday’s league trip to Sunderland, who were reduced to ten men in the 33rd minute.
Villa took the lead in the second half but could not press home their advantage before Wilson Isidor equalised for the depleted Black Cats.
Emery was hugely frustrated by his side’s performance at the Stadium of Light and Villa may struggle to take maximum points against Bologna.
The Serie A side competed well in last season’s 2-0 Champions League defeat away to Liverpool and they are capable of claiming a draw at Villa Park.
Bologna have made a solid start to their domestic campaign, beating Como and Genoa at home and suffering narrow 1-0 defeats away to Roma and AC Milan.
They qualified for the Europa League by defeating Milan in last season’s Coppa Italia final and this looks an ideal time for them to visit Villa Park.
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Castro could show his class at Villa Park
Bologna have developed some exciting players in recent years, selling Riccardo Calafiori, Joshua Zirkzee and Dan Ndoye to Arsenal, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest respectively for substantial transfer fees.
Striker Santiago Castro has also enhanced his reputation since arriving from Velez Sarsfield in his native Argentina in January 2024.
Castro impressed in his first full season in Serie A, contributing eight goals and four assists in 27 league starts, and he is up and running for the 2025-26 campaign.
The 21-year-old scored in Saturday’s home win against Genoa and looks overpriced to break the deadlock at Villa Park.
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Elliott could provide spark for slow-starting Villa
Aston Villa’s only goal in five Premier League games this season came in the 67th minute at Sunderland and they may struggle to make an early breakthrough against Bologna.
Backing under 0.5 first-half Villa goals looks a solid first leg for the Bet Builder although Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott could provide an attacking spark for the hosts.
Elliott should be full of confidence after being named Player of the Tournament at the European Under-21 Championship in the summer.
He scored in Villa’s EFL Cup tie at Brentford and had two shots after coming on as a second-half substitute at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler has picked up 25 yellow cards in his last three Serie A campaigns for Atalanta and Bologna and he may well be booked against Villa.
The 33-year-old was cautioned three times in six Champions League starts last term and was also shown a card in Bologna’s last away game at Milan.
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