Aston Villa host Hibernian at Villa Park in the second leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League playoff on Thursday night. After the Villans mauled their hosts in Edinburgh to put one foot in the group stage, they are now tasked with completing the formalities against their opponents. Faced with an all-British contest to mark their return to European competition after 13 years away, Aston Villa made short work of their first assignment last Wednesday, as captain John McGinn led the Lions to success against his former club. Ollie Watkins scored the first two goals of a hat-trick during a dominant first-half display from the visitors at Easter Road, and Douglas Luiz later slotted home Villa's fifth goal of the game from the penalty spot to effectively put them into this week's group stage draw with 90 minutes of the tie still remaining. Villa turned in another super team performance on Sunday, beating Burnley 3-1 in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Hibernian were left empty handed once again in the Premiership, as they fell to a 3-2 loss against Livingston at the weekend. Lee Johnson’s men have lost their opening three games of the new Scottish top-flight campaign and sit rock-bottom in the standings. For this encounter, I am expecting a drab game without a lot of chances, and with a handicap of +2.5, Hibernian should be winning the game. These are my reasons:

Firstly. Since kicking off the new season with a 5-1 loss to Newcastle United on August 12, Unai Emery’s side have won their next three games, scoring a staggering 12 goals. Clearly, Unai Emery's men have bounced back from a disappointing first-day defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League, as in addition to taking Everton apart and then hammering Hibs they went on to beat Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor on Sunday. We should however not expect another thrashing in the return fixture at Villa Park. Unai Emery will likely ring the changes for this contest with Aston Villa visiting Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon and there is no incentive to chase the game.

Secondly. As for Hibernian, they are having a tough time of it right now and dismissed manager Lee Johnson following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Livingston. They will merely be playing for pride when they visit the Midlands but the gulf in class between the teams last time out was hard to ignore. With the change in management, I expect some sort of reaction from the players in the game, and they should be playing their hearts out.

A second-string Villa side should get the job done but we should anticipate a less explosive encounter. While expecting an under 2.5 goals from this game, with a handicap of +2.5 to Hibernian, they should be victorious.

周四晚上，阿斯顿维拉将在维拉公园主场迎战希伯尼安，进行欧联杯季后赛第二回合的比赛。在爱丁堡的比赛中，维拉队击败了东道主，在小组赛中只占了一个席位，现在他们的任务是完成与对手的比赛。在离开欧洲赛场13年后，阿斯顿维拉将迎来一场全英国人的比赛。上周三，阿斯顿维拉在队长约翰·麦克金的带领下完成了他们的首个任务，战胜了他的老东家。在复活节路的比赛中，奥利-沃特金斯上演帽子戏法，完成了前两球。随后，道格拉斯-路易斯在点球点上打入维拉本场比赛的第五粒进球，在比赛还剩90分钟的情况下，有效地使维拉进入了本周小组赛的平局。维拉在周日的英超联赛中以3-1击败伯恩利，再次展现了超级球队的风采。与此同时，希伯尼安在英超联赛中再次空手而归，他们在周末以3比2输给了利文斯顿。李·约翰逊的球队已经输掉了新赛季苏格兰顶级联赛的前三场比赛，目前在积分榜上垫底。对于这场比赛，我预计会是一场单调乏味的比赛，没有太多的机会，而且希伯尼安的差点是+2.5，应该会赢。以下是我的理由:

首先。自8月12日以5:1不敌纽卡斯尔联队开始新赛季以来，埃梅里的球队赢得了接下来的三场比赛，打进了惊人的12球。显然，埃梅里的球队已经从英超第一天输给纽卡斯尔联的失望中恢复过来，除了击败埃弗顿和希布斯之外，他们周日还在草地沼泽球场3-1击败了伯恩利。然而，我们不应该期望在维拉公园的第二场比赛中再次惨败。埃梅里可能会在周日下午与做客利物浦的阿斯顿维拉的比赛中做出改变，他没有动力去追逐比赛。

其次。至于希伯尼安，他们现在正处于艰难时期，在周六3-2输给利文斯顿后，他们解雇了主教练李·约翰逊。当他们造访米德兰兹郡时，他们仅仅是为了骄傲而战，但上次两队之间的等级差距是很难忽视的。随着管理层的改变，我期待着球员们在比赛中做出一些反应，他们应该全力以赴。

第二梯队维拉应该能完成任务，但我们应该期待一场不那么激烈的比赛。虽然预计本场比赛的进球数将低于2.5个，但他们应该会取得胜利。