RB Leipzig vs. Aston Villa: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

These two sides are in very similar veins of form, but Villa have fared significantly better in the Champions League than Leipzig have. However, Villa's away form is a real cause for concern, with Unai Emery's men having lost all of their last four on the bounce away from home.

Ultimately, it's hard to make a convincing case for either side coming out on top here, so we think two sides that are very unreliable will share the spoils. RB Leipzig 1-1 Aston Villa.

Aston Villa’s attempts to automatically progress to the next round of the Champions League continue this week as they take on RB Leipzig.

• Date: 10/12/2024
• Kick-off time: 20:00
• Location: Red Bull Arena, Leipzig

So far, RB Leipzig’s season has been strange. Marco Rose’s side started the season well, at least in the Bundesliga, where they were Bayern Munich’s closest challengers, but a November that saw them go the whole month without a win sent their campaign into disarray. They now look to have stabilised somewhat and are still 4th in the league table, but there are still huge question marks over the team's prospects.

In this competition, Leipzig have been a complete disappointment from the very first game onwards, with the German club currently 31st in the league table with 0 points. Only three teams have 0 points, and the other two are Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys, so for a team of Leipzig’s resources to be grouped in with those two, you can see why manager Marco Rose is under significant pressure.

Leipzig have a significant amount of attacking quality, with their front two of Loïs Openda and Benjamin Šeško one of the best offensive duos around, but they appear unable to leverage that to their own advantage. Even if they win all three of their remaining Champions League games, Leipzig are unlikely to reach the playoff places, so the German club are playing for nothing other than pride here.

Aston Villa are currently 6th in the Premier League with 25 points from 15 games, and also sit 9th in the Champions League with 10 points from five games. It’s been a mixed campaign for Villa so far, who while still an impressive team, look to have taken a dip from the level they were operating at last season.

Villa are coming into this game off the back of a pair of good results, but prior to that, the Birmingham-based club went on a run of eight games without a win. A deep dive into Villa's issues might conclude that there seems to be an issue with Villa's preferred buildup structure under Emery becoming increasingly ineffective as opposition managers learn to nullify their methods, making the side notably less coherent. Combined with that, Villa may be struggling to contend with playing in both the Premier League and the Champions League, similar to how Newcastle struggled last season. Still, though, they’re in a pretty healthy position in both leagues, and in this competition, they look highly likely to secure a playoff spot at least.

The worry for Villa is that they don’t have a tonne of depth, particularly in the attacking areas. They’re quite reliant on Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Jhon Durán for attacking output, and when those three don’t deliver, there are few others who can be relied upon to consistently produce in the final third.

Villa are outside of the automatic promotion spots in the Champions League on goal difference only, and with their remaining fixtures being RB Leipzig (A), Monaco (A) and Celtic (H), they should feel as though they have a decent chance of automatic promotion. They probably need at least six points though, and maybe even seven, so given how much Leipzig have struggled in the Champions League so far, this one is nothing short of a must-win.

This game will be aired live to all subscribed UK viewers on Amazon.

RB Leipzig Team News:

Leipzig will be without Castello Lukeba, who is unavailable through suspension, while Xavi Simons, El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Eljif Elmas, Yussuf Poulsen and David Raum are all out injured.

After a good result at the weekend, Leipzig could remain unchanged for this one.

Predicted lineup: Gulácsi; Geertruida, Seiwald, Orban, Henrichs; Baumgartner, Haidara, Vermeeren, Nusa; Šeško, Openda.

Aston Villa Team News:

Leon Bailey picked up a muscle at the weekend and will therefore miss out here, while midfielder Jacob Ramsey remains on the sidelines.

Amadou Onana will be vying for a return to the starting lineup, but with Boubacar Kamara having started successive wins for Villa, he could remain in the middle alongside Youri Tielemans.

Predicted lineup: Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Philogene, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.

RB Leipzig have been in awful form of late but they come into this game off the back fo successive wins. At the weekend, goals from Benjamin Šeško and André Silva brought a 2-0 win over Holstein Kiel. Before that, a Loïs Openda brace and another goal from Šeško resulted in a 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal.

Those results followed three straght losses, the most recent of which was against Wolfsburg in a 1-5 hammering, which followed a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan and a 4-3 defeat to Hoffenheim, where Willi Orbán, Antonio Nusa and an own-goal were Leipzig's scorers.

In almost identical fashion, Villa have been on a sustained run of poor form but have got their act together in their last two games, where Unai Emery's men beat Southampton 1-0 at the weekend, with the goal coming from Jhon Durán, which came after a 3-1 win over Brentford thanks to Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash.

Prior to that, Villa drew 0-0 with Juventus in the Champions League, lost 3-0 against Chelsea and drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace, with Ollie Watkins and Ross Barkley scoring the goals.

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