Aston Villa v Lille Osc Betting Tips [11 April 2024]

Aston Villa will be at home to host Lille in the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarterfinal tie this Thursday. The prize for a win in this tie will be a semifinal encounter against either Olympiakos or Fenerbahce. Aston Villa will come into this encounter looking to register their first win in three matches. They’ll be happy to put a hold to their Premier League ambitions after a few shaky games in recent times. Their latest game ended 3-3 against Brentford, a match they led 2-0 in, at 46 minutes. Villa actually needed to score a late equalizer to pick a point from the match. In their last two matches alone, Villa conceded seven goals, a depiction of their defensive struggles. They come into this game having managed just three clean sheets in 10 matches. In half of their last 10 matches, Unai Emery’s side conceded two or more goals. Their latest Conference League matches have been better defensively, though they were against a struggling team. Villa beat Ajax 4-0 on aggregate in the last round of this competition. The two matches took their tally of clean sheets to three in eight Conference League games. As they seek to build on those, Villa will want to also defend their run of five straight home wins in the Conference League.

Lille boosted their Champions League hopes with another key win in their last outing, beating Marseille 3-1. That made it two straight wins for Lille, and solidified their hold of fourth place in Ligue 1. In the Conference League they have another avenue for European football next season. They come into this encounter unbeaten in the last seven matches, winning four. However, in their last 10 matches, Lille have just three clean sheets. Defence has emerged as the major impediment to Lille’s ambitions this season. They have none in the last five matches, and just two in the last 11. In their last five matches, both teams managed to score and the same was the case in four of their last six away matches. An unbeaten run in their 10 Conference League matches means they come into this game on a high. The French side failed to score in just one of the 10 Conference League matches. In half of those 10 games, both teams got to score.

These two sides will not parade their defences as their strongest departments coming into this game. Their best has come from forward players, and we may see the same again in this game. They’ve kept few clean sheets in their recent matches, and our bet for Aston Villa v Lille is for both teams to score.