They don’t come much tougher than this. Villa 3-1 down from the first leg, host already crowned French champions PSG with a place in the Champions League Semi Final at stake.

Under the expert tutelage of Unai Emery, Aston Villa have reached new heights and there is arguably nobody better equipped than the shrewd European competition specialist for what lies ahead.

But this is a tie fraught with danger against a PSG team that has developed into possibly the best in Europe. They will be strengthened by the return of their skipper (Marquinhos) who missed the first leg and conveniently had the weekend off to prepare for the second leg.

PSG won the shot count in the home leg by 29-7 and whilst things may be a bit more even at Villa Park, the potent front 3 of Dembele, Doue and Kvaratskhelia will be almost impossible to shackle for 90 minutes (they had 15 attempts between them in Paris).

Villa don’t need to go gung-ho too early, they can’t really win the tie in the first half, but they could easily lose it – so I would expect the game to open up in the second half . I like the look of the Half With Most Goals market (Second Half is Evens)

Without knowing the exact line ups, its difficult to get stuck into any of the player markets, but Matty Cash (booked in the first leg ) is 10/3 to get a yellow card and Achraf Hakimi is 8/5 to have a shot on target (he had 2 SOTs in the first leg and is often on free kick duties)

Recommended Bets:

Half with Most Goals – 2nd Half – EVENS (10 Units) – LOSER (3 x 1st Half goals and 2 x 2nd Half goals)

Yellow Card – Matty Cash – 10/3 (5 Units) – LOSER

Player SOT – Achraf Hakimi – 8/5 (5 Units) – WINNER

Team Shots – PSG 16 or more – 11/10 (10 Units) – LOSER (14 Shots)

(All Bets placed on Betfair Sportsbook. Prices correct at time of bet placement. 1 Unit = £1 so I have £30 invested in the Aston Villa v PSG match)

Summary:

A thriller at Villa Park as PSG squeaked through 5-4 on aggregate. Not so great for the Tips as only 1 of the 4 advised bets came in resulting in a -17 unit loss.