Aston Villa face Feyenoord in the Europa League on Thursday night, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the encounter.
Villa began our European journey this season with a win over Bologna last week, and having followed that up with our first Premier League win of the campaign this past weekend, confidence and form is hopefully gradually returning.
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A trip to De Kuip will undoubtedly be a tough assignment, particularly with absentees as Emery confirmed that Tyrone Mings, Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana, Jadan Sancho and Andres Garcia have not travelled with the squad, and so others will have to continue to step up.
As per the club’s post, Emery has opted to make four changes to the side that defeated Fulham with Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara and Emiliano Buendia coming in to replace Mings, Lucas Digne, Lamare Bogarde and Harvey Elliott.
It’s a youthful bench given our injury woes, and time will tell if Emery needs to call upon them or not as the Villa boss does have more experienced options at his disposal too if needed.
Given the strength of the starting line-up though, it’s hoped that they can give us a foothold in the game and a strong defensive base to go on and win the game, with an injection of energy and a fresh attacking dynamic with the likes of Maatsen and Buendia, while Kamara and Pau will hopefully give us more composure and quality in possession too.
Villa will undoubtedly be eyeing a direct route to the knockout stage of the Europa League and racking up early wins will be the ideal scenario, but with the quality that Feyenoord possess and what promises to be a feisty atmosphere, it will be a difficult challenge for the players as we look to prove ourselves as one of the favourites to win the competition.
Confirmed Aston Villa XI vs Feyenoord: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau, Maatsen; Kamara, McGinn; Guessand, Buendia, Rogers; Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Proctor, Lindelof, Digne, Bogarde, Burrowes, Broggio, Jimoh, Elliott, Malen.
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