Aston Villa vs Hibernian tips: Premier League powerhouse to leave Scots with another nose bleed
- Seb Sternik
- 29 August 2023
Aston Villa will be looking to officially secure their place in the Europa Conference League when they take on Hibernian in the second leg of their qualifying play-off.
Hibernian are in all sorts of dire straits and things could get even worse as the Scottish Premiership side head to Birmingham for potentially another spanking.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Europa Conference League qualifiers, Thursday, August 31, Kick-off 20:00, live on TNT Sports
Predicted score
Suggested bets
Verdict
Imagine being a Hibernian fan. The season is just a few weeks old, yet your team has already lost away in Andorra, won three of nine games, failed to keep a single clean sheet, conceded 20 goals and sacked Lee Johnson from his managerial position.
Last week, Hibs were on the end of a 5-0 thrashing from Premier League powerhouses Aston Villa - a result which outlined the growing divide between the Scottish and English top flights.
Instead of bouncing back with a victory at home against Livingston, Johnson's men fell to a 3-2 defeat - a result which ultimately cost the ex-Bristol City and Sunderland manager his job.
Villa, on the other hand, are flying. Since kicking off their campaign with a shocking 5-1 defeat at Newcastle, Unai Emery's men have bounced back in style, winning three matches in a row.
During this run, the Villans have scored 12 goals and conceded just one, with two of their three wins coming away from home.
Emery's men underlined their Premier League qualities in the opening leg with Hibernian as they powered to a comfortable win.
Barring one of the biggest turnarounds in football history, Villa are essentially through to the group stages of the Europa Conference League and can afford to make changes for the second leg.
That's not necessarily good news for Hibs, considering Villa's bench at the weekend consisted of names such as Nicolo Zaniolo, Bertrand Traore, Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey.
Whatever team Emery decides to field, Villa will remain favourites to win this game. The real question concerns the number of goals.
With Hibs in crisis and the Villans on the ascendency, we're backing another 5-0 win in the correct score market.
Over 3.5 goals is an enticing alternative at a smaller price.
