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Villa can win entertaining clash
Aston Villa took their time to get going this season but they go into Thursday’s Europa League contest with Go Ahead Eagles on a run of five straight wins in all competitions.
There was a feeling that they had not played any strong sides in that run but the 2-1 victory away to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday was a bit of a statement win and that was the fourth successive match in which they have bagged at least two goals.
They are starting to connect in the final third and that could be bad news for Go Ahead Eagles, who have lost to FCSB and were surprise winners over Panathinaikos in their first two Europa League ties.
The 2-1 win away to Panathinaikos was truly baffling given Go Ahead Eagles lost the xG battle 2.23-1.02 and allowed the Greek side 32 shots, 10 of which were on target.
Panathinaikos also managed 14 corners, outlining their dominance in that game, and if Go Ahead Eagles defend as poorly against Villa, the scoreline could get embarrassing.
Favourites to win this competition, Unai Emery’s Villa have already won 2-0 away to Feyenoord, who are flying high at the top of the Eredivisie and have more than double the domestic points tally of Go Ahead Eagles (25 to 10).
That illustrates the potential gulf in class in this fixture and the fact Go Ahead’s league games are averaging 3.44 goals per game suggests they are usually pretty open, so a bet on Villa to win and over 2.5 goals stands out at 11/10.
