Gareth Freeman’s tips for Aston Villa’s trip to Paris on Wednesday include a home win with goals at both ends.
Two in-form teams collide in the Champions League quarter finals on Wednesday as Paris Saint-Germain host Aston Villa.
PSG have 16 wins from their last 17 games, while Villa are on a seven-game winning run across all competitions.
The Ligue 1 champions are bidding for their first ever title in Europe’s top competition and there is a growing belief in the French capital that this could be their year.
Villa, the European Cup winners in 1982, have been one of the competition’s surprise packages this season and they will feel more than capable of challenging their hosts after picking up wins over Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig over the course of their Champions League adventure.
PSG are the odds-on favourites in the football betting for this home leg, with Aston Villa the 11/2 underdogs.
PSG v Aston Villa tips
PSG to win & BTTS 7/4
Marco Asensio to score or assist 12/5
PSG can seize the initiative
PSG come into the game as the clear favourites and they should be able to justify that by winning the first leg, but Villa can at least keep things interesting and the tie alive by getting on the scoresheet.
PSG have won 16 of their last 17 games and their one defeat during that run was a loss to Liverpool that was incredibly unfortunate.
The French giants secured the Ligue 1 title with six games to spare with their win over Angers at the weekend and can now fully focus on their European hopes – they should be able to start with a win over Villa.
Villa have been in fine form themselves with seven successive wins across all competitions, but they haven’t had any huge tests during that run.
PSG are a few levels above the teams they have been beating recently and Unai Emery’s team could well be brought back down to earth by one of the Villa boss’ former clubs.
A Villa goal looks likely as they have scored in 12 consecutive games across all competitions and they have scored nine times across five away fixtures in this competition so far.
PSG have conceded in four of their six home Champions League games and have managed just two clean sheets in their last eight games overall, so they may concede in victory against a Villans outfit who have a few decent attacking options.
Asensio can haunt his parent club
One of Villa’s key attacking threats comes in the shape of a PSG player as Marco Asensio left Paris for Villa Park on loan in January.
Players have a habit of impressing against their former clubs, or in Asensio’s case one of his current clubs, and irrespective of that the Spanish forward is coming into Wednesday’s contest in superb form.
Asensio has managed eight goals in all games across all competitions since joining Villa and he’s also provided one assist.
The former Real Madrid man scored in both legs against Club Brugge in the previous round of the Champions League, hitting three goals in total, and if Villa are able to strike at the Parc des Princes there’s a good chance that Asensio will be involved.