Aston Villa v Rapid Vienna
Football : Europa League, 1st round 2nd Leg
Thursday 26 August 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm

This match is on TV

---

Aston Villa

Welcome to the world of being a manager Kevin MacDonald- days after being regarded as the favourite for the top job at Villa Park, his side went to St James' Park and took a battering off newly promoted Newcastle United. The 6-0 loss may have been avoided if John Carew had not missed a penalty by a country mile while the score was still 0-0, but all of this adds up to Bob Bradley being the new favourite to take over.

Villa had made a positive start to the season after losng Martin O'Neill. They beat West Ham United comfortably at home and then picked up a useful 1-1 draw at Rapid Vienna before the debacle on Sunday afternoon. This match represents the chance for both Aston Villa and Kevin MacDonald to set the record straight- MacDonald after last weeks performance and Villa after Rapid knocked them out at this stage of the competition last season.

There is not much information coming out of Villa Park about team selections for this game but I will be very surprised if a strong team is not picked. I would be surprised if wholesale changes will be made as they were last week in Austria.

Possible Aston Villa Line Up: Guzan, Luke Young, Dunne, Davies, Warnock, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Downing, Albrighton, Ashley Young and Carew (4-5-1)

Rapid Vienna

Rapid Vienna lost striker Nikica Jelavic to Glasgow Rangers during the last week as the Croatian refused to play in this tie in fear of being cup-tied for future Champions League games for his new club. He will also be hoping his old club is knocked out by Villa as that is the only way he can take part in European competition for Rangers this season.

After losing their first 2 games of their domestic season, Rapid have turned things around and are unbeaten in their next 5 games in all competitions. That includes progress in the Austrian Cup as well as 3 straight League victories. The 1-1 draw at home against Villa last week leaves them in a vulnerable position and they will need to score here.

Team news is not available to me at the moment.

Prediction

Aston Villa need to bounce back from their devastating loss at Newcastle United and this gives them a chance to before a tough game with Everton over the weekend. The defending on Sunday was comical although they did look impressive going forward in the first half of the game.

Rapid Vienna beat Villa over 2 legs last season, but lost the game here at Villa Park. It is going to be a tough ask for them to overturn the 1-1 draw from the first leg and the fact they need a goal could lead to over committing players as the game wears on.

Villa looked in decent nick before Sunday, but they will have to improve defensively as many of the goals conceded for far too easy for Newcastle.

The odds that appeal to me most from this game is for Ashley Young to score at anytime. He looked the most threatening against Newcastle last weekend and is playing in a more advanced role at the moment. If he starts, he can make odds of 3.6 look silly.

The Pick :

Aston Villa 3-1 Rapid Vienna

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Ashley Young to score Anytime @ 3.6 (Paddy Power)