Will Aston Villa Reach the Europa Conference League Final?
Aston Villa face an uphill battle on Thursday evening. They travel to Olympiacos for the second leg of this Europa Conference League semi-final trailing 4-2 from the first leg played last Thursday. Can they make a great comeback and reach the final?
Villa really needed to win the first leg of this semi-final. Those hopes soon began to diminish when Ayoub El Khaabi scored twice for the Greeks in the 16th and 29th minutes. Villa fought back well and in the 52nd minute leveled the scores at 2-2.
However, four minutes later, El Khaabi completed his hat-trick with a goal from the penalty spot. He’s scored 11 goals so far in Europe this season and is 9/4 at bet365 to score on Thursday.
Worse was to come as Santiago Hazze scored in the 67th minute to restore the two-goal lead. Villa were awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of the match but Douglas Luiz failed to convert. Just how crucial might that miss be as Villa try to claw their way back into this tie? They are 5/2 at BetVictor to qualify.
Inconsistent away form
Away form for Aston Villa in this year’s Europa Conference League has not been too impressive. There have been wins at Hibernians and AZ with nine goals scored by them in those two victories. However, they lost at Legia Warsaw and in the last eight, they were beaten 2-1 at Lille over 120 minutes but won on penalties.
They started their campaign with a 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw. Since then, they have played four matches with their only wins being 4-1 at AZ and a penalty shoot-out win at Lille in the quarter-finals after losing 2-1 in 120 minutes.
Only one of Villa’s five away games in this competition hasn’t seen both teams score. BetVictor offers odds of 40/85 that both Villa and Olympiacos find the back of the net. Four of their six away matches have produced over 2.5 goals.
The weekend saw them lose 1-0 at Brighton making it three games without a win. They need to rediscover their form and it’s 10/11 at William Hill that Villa can win this match.
First European final for Olympiacos?
Unlike their opponents, Olympiacos haven’t had to play since the first leg. They are fourth in the Championship group of the Greek Super League which is outside the European qualifying positions.
They may therefore have to win this competition to be in the 2024/25 Europa League. Bet365 have them at 2/7 to reach the final.
The Greeks are in good form with only one loss over 90 minutes in their last eight games. That was a 1-0 defeat at Fenerbahce in the last round of this competition, Just like Villa, they went on to win their quarter-final tie on penalties.
Olympiacos have won each of their last four home games. They scored at least twice in all of those games. Bet365 have Olympiacos at 11/5 to win the game and it’s 11/4 the game ends level after 90 minutes.
After finishing third in their Europa League group, Olympiacos were moved into this competition, They won two of their three home games in the Europa League, including beating West Ham United.
In the knockout stages of the Conference League, they have won two of their three home games. The other saw them beaten 4-1 by Maccabi Tel Aviv but then won the second leg 6-1 after extra time. The fact Maccabi won so well in Greece must give Villa some hope.
This should be a thrilling match, especially if Villa can score the first goal. Villa have to score at least twice to have any chance of making the final. With that being the case, they’ll have to be a bit more adventurous than usual.
That could cause gaps at the back to appear and a bet on over 2.5 goals looks a good one at odds of 8/15 at BetVictor. Even better looks both teams scoring with over 2.5 goals in the match. That has odds of 4/5 at William Hill.
