Aston Villa face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up could look for the first leg of the tie.
Villa travel to the French capital looking to secure a positive result ahead of the return leg at home next week, but it certainly promises to be a difficult assignment given the quality at Luis Enrique’s disposal after the Parisians secured the Ligue 1 title last weekend with several games to spare.
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That in turn will allow them to fully focus on securing European success this season, and so it’s down to Emery to produce a winning gameplan, and the players to go out and execute it as efficiently as possible to give us the best chance of advancing to the last four of the competition.
With our strength in depth in the squad now, Villa were able to rotate and rest key individuals this past weekend in our 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, and so the expectation is that Emery will make a number of changes once again in midweek as we look to at the very least keep ourselves in the tie, but hopefully take an advantage back to Villa Park.
Eight potential changes, key decisions for Emery
While there is little doubt over Emiliano Martinez starting between the posts, we could see an entirely different backline in front of him with Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne being restored to the Villa starting line-up.
We’ll need pace and defensive solidity in the full-back positions given the threat that PSG pose in wide areas and so the combination of Cash and Digne could be the best solution for this particular encounter, while Pau’s composure and ability to calm us down in possession could be critical to avoid this becoming a 90-minute onslaught on our goal. His partnership with Konsa will be critical as we look to keep an all-important clean sheet on the road.
Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans will have a vital job in the midfield pivot in both phases of the game, as they’ll need to show their tenacity in protecting and shielding the back four, while also giving them an option as we try to play out from the back and not only control the game for periods to alleviate pressure, but to also build and create attacking plays of our own.
That said, Emery’s selections could reflect the need for energy and defensive grit all the way through the side to ensure we don’t get overrun in any key areas, and so John McGinn, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey could be the trio to go with to give us presence in the final third, but also the willingness to put in the hard work off the ball to maintain our defensive shape and try to limit PSG as best as possible.
At the same time, they give us ball-carrying qualities to move up the pitch quickly when we do have it, and while we’ll need to be ruthless and clinical in the final third, it could be the balance and combination that serves us best.
Given how the game could go with the home side looking to dictate and dominate possession though, our play on the counter-attack could be fundamental to our chances of gaining a positive result. Although Ollie Watkins gives us a more all-round presence when leading the line, this could be a night for Marcus Rashford’s pace and ability to get in behind to really hurt PSG, while also forcing them to retreat and be wary of that danger, rather than playing a high line and squeezing us in our own half.
There will be a lot for Emery to consider as this promises to be a fascinating tactical battle beyond the individual duels across the pitch, while the likes of Axel Disasi, Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana, Marco Asensio and Watkins will all hope to play a bigger role.
Time will tell what Emery goes with, but Villa have the quality, experience and belief to get something from this game, but it will come down to our ability to execute our gameplan on the pitch and not only try to contain PSG, but expose their weaknesses when possible too.
i would use Garcie instead of Cash. Cash has become unreliable and prone to be rash going into tackles. probably play Arsenio instead of McGinn.
it is possible that Villa could do an Arsenal and provide an upset.
Garcia not in our CL squad unfortunately. Disasi over Cash perhaps? Let’s hope there’s another upset ahead!