Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has crucial decisions to make for our Europa Conference League clash with Ajax on Thursday night.
Following a goalless draw in Amsterdam in the first leg of our round-of-16 tie last week, it’s finely poised going into the return fixture at Villa Park as we look to secure our place in the next round.
READ MORE: Villa team news vs Ajax: Emery confirms key absence for crunch clash
A heavy defeat to Tottenham this past weekend will hopefully spur a positive reaction out of the players to bounce back in style, but as we saw last week, Ajax are still a difficult proposition despite their struggles so far this season.
While our Premier League top-four ambitions took a knock last time out, securing silverware in Europe remains a main objective still, and it’s hoped that a convincing win in midweek will immediately get us back on track across both fronts.
Jacob Ramsey ruled out, Konsa and Zaniolo suspended
Emi Martinez is a certainty to start between the posts given the magnitude of this game now, but we’ll be forced into at least one change in defence given Ezri Konsa is suspended after his dismissal in the first leg.
While Diego Carlos is back from his injury and has been named on the bench over the past week, is he fit enough to come straight into the starting line-up for this one? That seems doubtful, and so we could see Matty Cash start at right-back, with Clement Lenglet forming the centre-half partnership with Pau Torres.
Lucas Digne has started our last two games, but Alex Moreno is surely set to come back in to add more quality down our left flank and increased attacking threat given the onus will be on us to find a breakthrough at home.
With John McGinn now facing a three-game suspension in the Premier League, Emery will perhaps want to get Tim Iroegbunam settled in the side and help speed up his adaptation, and so the best way to do that is to start him in this game and get valuable minutes.
In contrast, will he want to avoid the risk of an injury setback to the youngster, which in turn would leave us dangerously light in midfield?
Leon Bailey will be expected to start on the right wing, with Douglas Luiz and McGinn completing the midfield quartet.
That in turn should see Youri Tielemans support Ollie Watkins in the final third, although both Moussa Diaby and Morgan Rogers will no doubt be itching to get a look in instead.
Emery confirmed that Jacob Ramsey is out for this encounter as he continues to recover from his foot injury, while Nicolo Zaniolo is also suspended. They join long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara on the sidelines.
It’s a big night in itself given the occasion and what’s at stake, but even more so after Sunday’s result. Having been so impressive all season, Villa and Emery will be desperate to avoid seeing it start to slip away from us in the business end of the campaign. With that in mind, he’ll go with a strong XI, and it’s hoped that it’s enough to get the job done and advance in Europe.