Aston Villa are hoping to get their Champions League campaign off to a flyer as they lock horns with Club Brugge in their tournament opener.
Belgian outfit Club Brugge qualified for the competition by finishing the 2025-26 domestic season as champions.
They participated in the competition last season, finishing 19th in the standings and progressing to the play-offs for the knockout phase. In that stage of the competition, they were beaten 7-4 on aggregate by Atletico Madrid.
The Belgian team lost Christos Tzolis to Arsenal and Aleksandar Stankovic to Inter in the summer transfer window, replacing them largely with project players, so many expect them to be a weaker side this year.
They've started the domestic season well, winning four and drawing one of their five league games. However, they did lose to the best team they played (Gent), which does not bode well here.
Villa, meanwhile, have had a tough start to the season. Unai Emery's side have been forced to endure an immense amount of squad turnover over the summer which has botched their preparations for this campaign.
That's been compounded by absences, with players like Johan Manzambi, Brian Madjo and Amadou Onana out with injury.
On the first day of the campaign, Villa were hammered 4-0 away at Brighton, but they did improve in subsequent showings - a 0-1 loss to Arsenal and a 0-0 draw with Hull City.
Both of these sides have seen under 2.5 goals scored in two of their last three games, which is a theme we think could continue here.
These two sides have met three times in recent seasons, with Villa winning twice and Club Brugge winning once. Given Villa's slow start to the season they'll likely struggle to win, but we think they should have enough to avoid defeat.
Club Brugge 1-1 Aston Villa
