Aston Villa v PSG preview: Team news, lineups, supercomputer prediction
Aston Villa will have to fight back from behind against PSG on Tuesday night if they want to progress to the Champions League semi-finals.
A place in the final four of Europe’s elite competition is at stake on Tuesday (15 April) when PSG make the trip to Villa Park for the second leg of their quarter-final match.
The French outfit dominated the first leg, and despite going behind to a Morgan Rogers goal, head to Villa Park with a comfortable 3-1 lead to protect.
Unai Emery’s men have a mountain to climb against one of the favourites to win the entire competition, but they must do exactly that if they want to earn a game against either Arsenal or Real Madrid in the next round.
Aston Villa v PSG preview
Villa have a lot of work to do if they want to remain in the competition beyond this stage, and while they’re very much the underdogs heading into this match, they will still be hoping to pull off a huge shock.
Emery will be relying on the famous Villa Park atmosphere in a bid to make the stadium feel as intimidating as possible to the Ligue 1 side, which might be a major factor in this one.
Villa showcased no signs of being impacted by the loss in the first leg at the weekend when they dominated Southampton 3-0.
They picked up a comfortable three points in the Premier League with goals from Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and John McGinn, which should have injected plenty of confidence into the group before Tuesday’s test.
| Match Stats from first leg | PSG | Villa |
| Possession | 76% | 24% |
| Total Shots | 29 | 7 |
| Passes | 841 | 271 |
| Fouls | 9 | 8 |
Aston Villa v PSG team news
Emery has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from for the second leg, which gives Villa the best possible chance of pulling off a major upset.
Leon Bailey is the only injury concern for the Villans at the moment, although he is also close to making his return to the squad.
The visitors are also in a healthy position at this late stage in the season, and they will also be boosted by the return of Marquinhos, who was unavailable in the first leg due to suspension.
Predicted lineups
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Rogers, McGinn, Rashford; Watkins
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Hernandez, Pacho, Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, Zaire-Emery, Kvaratskhelia, Doue, Dembele
Betting Odds
Aston Villa: 23/10
Draw: 27/10
PSG: 11/10
(All odds according to Bet365 as of 14 April).
Supercomputer Prediction
According to the Opta supercomputer, PSG are the firm favourites to win this game with a 43.6 per cent chance, compared to Villa’s 31.5 per cent.
A draw is seen as the least likely outcome at 24.9 per cent, but even that would guarantee that Villa will be knocked out.