Aston Villa face Hibernian in the Europa Conference League play-off round on Wednesday evening, and Unai Emery has named his starting XI.
The first leg will be played at Easter Road this week before the return leg at Villa Park next Thursday night, and Villa will be hoping to return home with a positive result that puts us in a commanding position to advance to the group stage.
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It will be a tough assignment though given the atmosphere we can expect and the intensity with which the game will be played, particularly in the early stages, and so not only does Emery have to get his selections spot on, but the players have to have the right approach from the first minute.
There was plenty of discussion this week over what changes the Villa boss could make for this one given he dropped hints with his substitutions in our win over Everton on Sunday, and while there would have been a temptation to rotate, Emery would have been cautious about making too many changes and losing our rhythm and balance.
With that in mind, he’s made just one change as Diego Carlos comes in for Matty Cash in defence, with Ezri Konsa expected to shift across to right-back.
Despite suggesting in midweek that Nicolo Zaniolo could feature, the 24-year-old Italian international doesn’t make the squad. Given he was pictured in training this week with the rest of the group, it’s perhaps not fitness related and rather that he has already featured for Galatasaray in Champions League qualification, and may not be available for this tie.
Emery will likely provide more on that after the game as Zaniolo has been pictured in Edinburgh with the squad, and the Villa boss will also possibly comment on Cameron Archer’s future too, with the Villa youngster absent from the squad as well amid speculation over a move to Sheffield United being close.
It’s good that Emery hasn’t rotated too much as ultimately this is going to be a difficult test, and it’s arguably the sensible approach to go strong now, get a positive result and hopefully be in a position to rest players in the reverse fixture next week.
That in turn will hopefully help us find our rhythm quickly and control the game from the early stages, but before our quality can shine through, we’ll need to match the hosts for energy and desire as we look to take a big step towards the group stage of the Europa Conference League this season.
Introducing your Aston Villa team to face Hibernian at Easter Road. 👊 #UECL pic.twitter.com/17ps966Wb9
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 23, 2023