Monaco vs Aston Villa prediction: Jhon Duran to refind scoring boots in Europa League | OneFootball

Aston Villa are back in Champions League action on Tuesday when they travel to Monaco looking to edge closer to qualifying for the last 16 (5:45pm, TNT Sports 1 and Discovery+ app).

Despite playing in the Champions League for the first time they have taken to the competition like a duck to water, winning four, drawing 1 and losing one of their six games so far.

They sit fifth in the Champions League table but level on points with Arsenal in third and Lille in eighth, while Tuesday’s opponents sit 16th with 10 points and in need of a win.

Monaco, who sit fourth in Ligue 1, have lost their last two Champions League games, 3-2 at home to Benfica and 3-0 at Arsenal last time out, when Bukayo Saka scored twice before Kai Havertz added a third.

They go into the game with just one win in their last six league games and have been knocked out of the French Cup at Reims, losing on penalties and they conceded in added time to lose the French Super Cup to Paris Saint-Germain.

They will have to hope they can get someway back to the form, that saw them go 11 games unbeaten at the start of the season, to get anything from a Villa side who have adapted with ease to European competition, beating Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig amongst others and drawing at home to Juventus.

They go into the game unbeaten in their last five games. On Saturday, they came from 2-0 down against Arsenal to take a point, which was the first time in 53 matches that they had taken something from a game they trailed by two goals, dating back to November 2013!

This is the first meeting between the two sides, but Villa boss Unai Emery has plenty of experience against Monaco and lots of success!

He has won the last six matches against Les Monégasques, across all competitions, while in charge at PSG and his last game against them was a 7-1 league win back in April 2018.

Football betting sites have the home side as the slight favourites for the win at 31/20, while Villa are 9/5 for the victory and you can get 13/5 for a draw.

The only real thing going for the French side is their home form; they have only lost once at home in their three Champions League matches at Stade Louis II and twice at home in Ligue 1.

Villa’s away form might not be great, with six defeats in their last nine away from home in all competitions, but they have won two and lost one in this competition - with their only defeat coming at Club Brugge when they were beaten 1-0.

With Liverpool, Arsenal and Villa all in the top five, it’s a reminder of just how strong the English Premier League is compared to many leagues, including Ligue 1, across Europe.

It’s been a while since Jhon Duran was on the scoresheet, following a three-match ban for his sending-off against Newcastle and he would love to be back in the action on Tuesday.

He returned to action on Saturday against Arsenal and was set for more minutes, only for Ollie Watkins to score the equaliser just as his number was about to go up.

With just 10 minutes since Boxing Day a fresh Duran could be unleashed on Monaco and with three goals in six appearances in this competition, he has netted a goal every 68 minutes - not bad considering he has only started one of those six games.

He has 12 goals in 27 games in all competitions and betting sites are offering 8/1 on him scoring first and 11/4 at any time. In case he doesn’t start then 8/1 on him also scoring last might be a better option as he has done seven times already this season.

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