Aston Villa v Fenerbahce: Prediction, team news, lineups and odds
Unai Emery is the king of the Europa League having won it five times after leading Aston Villa to glory in last year’s final. And he also made a strong fist of it in his only Champions League campaign with Villa, guiding them to the quarter-finals in 2024/25 before they lost 5-4 on aggregate to eventual winners PSG.
With a raft of top players departing in the summer, it’s been a tricky start to the season for Emery’s side but they did emerge victorious in their Champions League opener thanks to a 3-2 win away to Club Brugge.
This is Fenerbahçe’s first Champions League campaign since 2008-09. To get here they came through qualifying, knocking out Gornik Zabrze and Sturm Graz before opening the league phase with a 1-1 home draw against Roma.
Aston Villa v Fenerbahce kick-off time
Aston Villa v Fenerbahce kicks off at 8pm BST on Wednesday, October 14 at Villa Park.
Aston Villa v Fenerbahce: how to watch
The game will be shown live in the UK via TNT Sports 2, with coverage starting from 7pm.
TalkSPORT 2 will provide full match radio commentary.
Aston Villa team news
Villa have a left-back crisis ahead of Wednesday’s game. Matteo Ruggeri limped off against Brentford with a hamstring injury, and Ian Maatsen is out until late November, leaving Emery without a natural left-back.
Amadou Onana (cruciate ligament) and Modou Keba Cisse are also out.
On the plus side, George Hemmings should shake off a minor knock, while Leon Goretzka and Brian Madjo are back in training, though Emery is unsure whether Goretzka will be ready.
Fenerbahce team news
Fenerbahce will be without Jayden Oosterwolde, Caglar Soyuncu, Rodrigo Becao and Mert Hakan Yandas, all of whom were left out of the club’s Champions League squad.
Familiar faces for the visitors include midfielder N’Golo Kante and forward Mason Greenwood. Greenwood has six goals for Fenerbahce this season but Vedat Muriqi is the team’s top scorer so far with seven.
Aston Villa v Fenerbahce odds
Aston Villa are odds-on at 4/6 to win the game and make it six points out of six in the league phase.
Fenerbahce are 4/1 while The Draw is 3/1.
Villa are 50/1 to win the Champions League.
Aston Villa v Fenerbahce prediction
For the second season running, Aston Villa have made a slow start but three wins and a draw from their last five matches suggest a corner is being turned.
The most striking part of their upturn is in attack and Villa have netted 12 times in the last five matches.
But they’ve also conceded nine goals in that run so the logical shout on Wednesday night is Villa to win and Both Teams to Score at 11/5.
The Turkish League may not be the strongest but Fenerbahce’s last two results are 8-0 and 3-0 wins so they certainly have some confidence in front of goal.
Nicolas Jackson, who netted in the 2-2 draw against Brentford at the weekend, has found his scoring boots and now has three goals in the last five matches.
Back the Ivory Coast striker to fire home the opening goal at 9/2.
Jackson to score anytime, Villa to win and Both Teams to Score pays 4/1.
