Aston Villa face Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the encounter.
Villa arrived in Piraeus looking to overturn a 4-2 deficit from the first leg, and so the players will know that they face an uphill task if we are to reach the final and return to Greece later this month.
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Injuries haven’t been kind to us this season as we’ve lost key individuals throughout the campaign, but it was hoped that there would be better news on the fitness front heading into this crunch clash.
Emiliano Martinez travelled with the squad to Greece but Emery remained coy on his availability as well as the likes of Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, and so the hope was that the announcement of the Villa XI would provide a timely boost.
As per the club’s tweet below, Martinez does indeed return to take his place between the posts in a major boost for us, with the Argentine shot-stopper’s presence and influence a significant factor as we look to keep things tight at the back and try and turn the tie on its head.
Matty Cash returns to the Villa XI after being benched against Brighton on Sunday in our only other change from that defeat, but he’ll play in a more advanced role on the right side with Ezri Konsa shifted to right-back as Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne complete our backline.
With no Tielemans or Rogers available still, it’s John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby who will seemingly make up our midfield quartet along with Cash, while Leon Bailey appears set for the support role behind Ollie Watkins in the final third.
We’ll need a huge shift from the players to turn this tie around, but with so much on the line, it’s hoped that we can produce our best performance and give it everything, and what comes from that remains to be seen.
Your #UECL Aston Villa team tonight! 👊#Believe pic.twitter.com/CyCojPSO1l
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 9, 2024
