Aston Villa face a difficult trip to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look.
A dramatic late winner from John McGinn saw us pick up three points against Zrinjski last time out, as we managed to bounce back from defeat to Legia Warsaw in our opening game to get off the mark in what looks set to be a tight group.
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However, given how impressive AZ have been so far this season, as they currently sit in second place in the Eredivisie, this promises to be as difficult as it gets for us, with Villa having to step up and deliver a big performance to have any chance of returning home with a positive result.
Pascal Jansen’s men have won eight of their opening nine league games and remain unbeaten, while they’ve scored 25 goals and conceded just four in that time.
With four clean sheets in their last five home games too, this promises to be a serious test for Villa, particularly as we look to show that we’ve learned valuable lessons from that defeat in Warsaw.
In turn, Emery is expected to go with a strong XI and minimise the rotation, starting with Emiliano Martinez between the posts. This a game where we could revert back to a preferred option of having three centre-halves in the side too and so that could see Ezri Konsa shift to right-back, with Diego Carlos partnering Pau Torres in the middle, while Lucas Digne will continue at left-back.
That should give us a solid defensive shape off the ball, while allowing us to switch to a back three in possession and hopefully play around the pressure and intensity from the home side to build out from the back.
In midfield, John McGinn should start given his ability to impose himself on games and get us a foothold, while there’s a key decision over whether we go with Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara.
There will be an obvious temptation to give Youri Tielemans playing time, so could he come in for Luiz or is the risk of a drop-off too big to take? Leon Bailey may well complete the midfield quartet to give us pace on the counter attack, although Nicolo Zaniolo will be in with a shout of keeping his place too.
Conversely, particularly away from home, this could be another chance for Matty Cash to play in a more advanced role, giving us energy and attacking quality down the right side, but also with the balance of his defensive strengths to help Konsa down that flank too.
Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins could keep their spots up top if Emery does indeed go with his strongest possible line-up, but there could be some tinkering if he feels others could be more effective in this one.
These back-to-back meetings with AZ could determine who advances out of the group, and so with ambitions of going on to win this competition, this is the time for Emery to go as strong as possible.
While he’ll have Luton on Sunday in the back of his mind, this will be a great test of our European credentials, and it’s hopefully one that we can pass with flying colours to take some level of control of the group.