Hibs v Aston Villa: Patrick McPartlin’s take on Hibs’ chances

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Patrick McPartlin and Martyn Simpson round of this week's European football by focusing on the most interesting match to come - Hibs versus Aston Villa.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - European football, that's gonna be the center

00:06 of attention now for the rest of the week.

00:07 We've got Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs all in action.

00:12 Aberdeen, they head to Sweden for the first leg

00:15 of their tie against BK Haken.

00:18 They know that they're guaranteed group stage football

00:20 regardless, but there is a chance there.

00:23 I mean, no mugs Haken, obviously the Swedish champions.

00:26 So it will be a tough tie,

00:27 but I think they'll see a realistic chance

00:30 of getting to the Europa groups.

00:31 Hearts have a very winnable tie against PAOK.

00:35 Rangers, PSV Eindhoven is gonna be hugely interesting,

00:38 but the tie that I'm really excited for

00:40 is Hibs against Aston Villa.

00:42 I think whenever a battle of Britain comes around

00:46 as it's traditionally called in Europe,

00:47 there's always that little bit of sit up and pay attention.

00:51 I think up in Scotland,

00:52 we love getting the chance to go head to head

00:55 with an English team in competitive action,

00:57 just to dispel the myth that sort of kickstarted

01:01 this very show in the first place,

01:03 that English people look down at Scottish football.

01:07 So I mean, Patrick,

01:09 how are you feeling ahead of the tie, first of all?

01:11 I mean, Aston Villa are obviously a team

01:13 full of world-class stars, multi-million pound sign-ins,

01:18 you know, guys upwards of 50 million pounds.

01:22 Hibs are not that with the greatest respect in the world,

01:26 but do you think there's any chance they can trouble?

01:29 How crucial, I think we'll have to say the first leg

01:32 at Easter Road is just gonna be hugely crucial, isn't it?

01:34 - Yeah, I think so.

01:37 I think that's, I think when you look at the tie as a whole,

01:41 you think that's, you know, Hibs have a chance

01:42 of possibly getting something from the first leg.

01:47 I think that, I mean, aside from the fact

01:50 that Lee Johnson has, I think he would,

01:52 he'd probably say himself a pretty decent record

01:54 against English Premier League teams and managers.

01:57 I think he will absolutely relish the chance

01:59 to go toe-to-toe with UNI Emery.

02:02 I think that you've also got the element,

02:08 one element coming into it is that Hibs often raise

02:10 their game for big games like this.

02:12 I mean, I've lost count of the number of times

02:15 in recent years where Hibs have maybe beaten Hearts

02:19 or they've beaten Celtic or Rangers,

02:21 they've had a good result in Europe

02:23 and then they followed it up with a really kind of meek,

02:27 disappointing, but also somehow entirely predictable

02:31 like result in the league.

02:34 So I think that, I think Hibs have a lot going for them

02:38 in this case.

02:39 I think the fact that it's gonna be,

02:41 well, you'd imagine it would be a sellout,

02:43 it will be a packed Easter Road,

02:45 it will be under the lights.

02:48 It's a big game, it's an unknown stadium

02:51 for most of the Villa team, one or two exceptions aside.

02:56 And I think, yeah, if they can sort of catch Villa

02:59 unawares, they can get a fast start, which they should,

03:04 you know, given the atmosphere and the fans backing,

03:05 then you just never know.

03:08 And as you rightly say, that's their best,

03:11 I think their best chance of hoping to get anything

03:13 from the tie is just having a good performance

03:16 and ideally for Hibs, a positive result from the first leg

03:20 to at the very least keep the tie alive

03:22 going into the return game at Villa Park

03:25 or, you know, even something to hold onto.

03:28 I just think the sort of overriding thing here

03:32 is that Hibs are just so unpredictable,

03:34 especially this season.

03:36 And yeah, it sort of feels like anything could happen,

03:40 but it will be intriguing to see how it pans out,

03:45 certainly in the first leg.

03:47 (upbeat music)

03:49 (upbeat music)

03:52 (upbeat music)

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