Aston Villa vs. Juventus lineups, odds: Where to watch Champions League, live stream, pick, prediction

Aston Villa host Juventus in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday with Unai Emery’s home side in faltering form of late. However, two wins from two at Villa Park in Birmingham has helped them to nine points from a possible 12 so far to sit ahead of Thiago Motta’s Bianconeri visitors who can leapfrog the Premier League outfit with a win here.

Villa have just five wins from their first 12 EPL games after a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace this past weekend. Four consecutive losses before the November internationals saw the Villans slip to eighth in the English topflight standings but Emery is capable of rallying his troops in Europe. Both Sevilla and Villarreal have beaten Juve in Europe under the Basque while he also coached counterpart Motta with Paris Saint-Germain.

This is Villa’s first meeting with Juventus since 1983 when the Italians won 5-2 on aggregate in the European Cup which the English side had been trying to defend. Hamburger SV saw off the Old Lady that year with seven continental final losses to their name as well as two European title triumphs. Juve actually do not have a great record in England with just three wins from their last 15 visits with nine of those losses. The Turin giants have won just once in seven games on the road in the Champions League which was against RB Leipzig although they are the only unbeaten side in Serie A after 13 games with just seven goals conceded and nine clean sheets.

Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:

How to watch and odds

• Date: Wednesday, November 27 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
• Location: Villa Park — Birmingham, England
• Watch: Paramount+
• Odds: Villa +130; Draw +230; Juve +225

League phase so far

Villa started their return to European soccer’s top table in superb form with three consecutive wins over Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna before a 1-0 defeat to Club Brugge. However, eight of the last nine home games in Europe have been won by Villa with the only exception a UEFA Conference League semifinal first-leg loss to Olympiacos last year. Juve beat PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig before losing to VfB Stuttgart and drawing with Lille OSC. That defeat in Germany is the only one that Motta’s side has lost across all competitions so far but seven points from 12 means that the Bianconeri have work to do to reach the UCL knockout rounds.

Team news

Villa: Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana are injured while Boubacar Kamara and Ezri Konsa are also expected to miss out. Ross Barkley and Matty Cash could start while Ollie Watkins is increasingly under pressure from Jhon Duran who has scored in both UCL games at Villa Park so far this season.

Possible Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Barkley, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.

Juve: Dusan Vlahovic has played a role in five goals from six Champions League away appearances but is struggling with a knock while Arkadiusz Milik is out for the rest of this year. Motta went without a striker against Milan which did not work well so do not expect a repeat of that. Bremer and Juan Cabal are long-term absentees while Nico Gonzalez will also miss out. Douglas Luiz and Weston McKennie could also both miss out on what could have been the Brazilian’s Villa Park return.

Possible Juve XI: Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Weah.

Prediction

This one seems destined to be a draw and possibly a low-scoring one at that with Villa tiring and showing signs of strain and Juve missing players despite remaining hard to beat. Pick: Villa 1, Juve 1.