Aston Villa take on Lille in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up for the encounter could look.
Villa will be eager to take an advantage to France for the second leg next week, as we look to keep our hopes of winning a major trophy this season alive.
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It certainly promises to be a difficult challenge though, given how well Paulo Fonseca’s side are faring this season, as they currently sit 4th in Ligue 1 after picking up three wins and two draws in their last five league outings.
Coupled with their progress in Europe, they’ve proven that they’ll be a tricky hurdle to overcome, but Emery and his Villa squad will be confident that we have the quality and experience now to overcome this latest test.
Villa team news vs Lille
Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia and Boubacar Kamara won’t feature, while Emery has also confirmed that Jacob Ramsey’s season is over.
As per the Villa boss in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Clement Lenglet is also ruled out due to a small injury, while although Matty Cash is closing in on a return to group training after he sustained a hamstring issue on international duty last month, he won’t be available for this one.
Predicted Aston Villa XI vs Lille
As we reach the business end of the season, the expectation is that Emery will go with his strongest possible line-up as often as possible, as we simply can’t afford any further slip-ups.
Naturally, that won’t always be possible due to knocks and those who perhaps need a rest, but given the importance of securing a positive result in the first leg to take into the reverse fixture, we are likely to see a strong Villa XI on Thursday.
That in turn should see Emiliano Martinez start between the posts, with Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Alex Moreno forming our backline.
Lucas Digne will be pushing to start at left-back instead of Moreno, but given we’re at home and will need to show positive intent going forward, the Spaniard will arguably be the better option.
In midfield, Moussa Diaby, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Morgan Rogers could get the nod, but again, Leon Bailey, Nicolo Zaniolo and Tim Iroegbunam will hope to be in contention too.
With Diaby showing positive signs when playing wide on the right, that would also allow Youri Tielemans to start in an advanced role behind Ollie Watkins, with that side having a good balance to it as we try to control the tempo and possession.
It remains to be seen If this is what Emery’s preparing, as the Villa boss will have his game-plan ready specifically tailored for Lille, and hopefully whoever starts, we’ll take a lead into the second leg as we look to advance to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
