Aston Villa are back in Europe's top competition for the first time since the 1982/83 season having won the trophy the year before.

At the helm is Unai Emery, who has four Europa League trophies to his name. With only one defeat in all competitions this season, to Arsenal in the second game of the season, they’re a team on the up and are now one of the Premier League elites.

Goalkeepers

World Cup winner, Golden Glove winner, Argentina’s number one, Emi Martinez’s move to Aston Villa couldn’t have gone much better. He prevented the third most goals last season behind Jose Sa and Town’s very own Arijanet Muric, keeping out close to five more goals that he was expected to and Town’s marksmen will need to be at their very best to beat him.

His back-up this season looks to be 24-year-old Australian Joe Gauci with veteran Swede Robin Olsen having slipped to third choice. Gauci has been with the club since February 2024 and made his debut in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night putting in a man of the match performance with five saves, three claims and an 87% pass completion. His entire career up to this move was spent in the A-League.

Defenders

A consistent back four has only been disrupted so far this season due to Matty Cash struggling with injury. The other right-back in the squad is 18-year-old Serbian Kosta Nedeljkovic who is full of promise but lacking experience. He made his international debut in the last international break, helping his country to a 0-0 draw with Spain.

Villa’s centre-half pairing consists of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres. Konsa started one game at the Euros, against Switzerland, and is firmly in the England reckoning after five seasons of consistent Premier League performances for Villa. He’s very rarely injured and can cover right-back if needed, which he was asked to do against Wolves in Villa’s last Premier League game

Alongside him Torres provides a naturally left-footed balance. He’s coming into his second season as a Villan having signed from Villareal last year and will be hoping to continue to grow that partnership with Konsa.

At left-back is 31-year-old Lucas Digne, who is someone I've been a fan of since his time at Everton. He notched up back-to-back seasons of seven assists at the Goodison Park club but has some frailties defensively.

At Villa, he doesn’t provide as many assists but Emery has definitely worked on his defensive side and he still provides an attacking outlet without being as much of a liability, and will be the most advanced of the back four.

In the back-up group of centre-backs is former Town player Tyrone Mings, who is still making his way back from a serious injury, Kortney Hause, who hasn’t featured in the Premier League since 2022, and Diego Carlos, who suffered the ignominy of being sent off in a pre-season friendly against RB Leipzig. Carlos made his first appearance of the season against Wolves last time out.

That doesn’t leave too much depth currently with a squad also stretched across Champions League football this season, but one area they have moved to rectify that is at left-back with the signing of Ian Maatsen.

The 22-year-old Dutchman is one of many players that has looked to find a home away from Stamford Bridge having proved his credentials in the Championship with loan spells and Coventry City and Burnley and in the Bundesliga last season with Borussia Dortmund.

He’ll be hoping that Villa is the right choice to help him fill his undoubted potential. He can also play further forward, coming on at left midfield to replace John McGinn against Wolves. A move that actually helped change the game for the Villans.

Midfield

Villa operate in a hybrid 4-4-2 formation which is a bit of a throw-back and central the that is McGinn. The Scotsman is often overlooked when it comes to Villa’s success but is a crucial part of the squad as he has a blend of everything that makes him the perfect all round midfielder.

His ten goal contributions (six goals and four assists) were incredibly valuable last season as much as his tough tackling, pressing and willingness to do the dirty side of the game.

Although a natural central midfielder, his position is very fluid this season, operating in a free role and filling in where he’s needed.

It’s been a Belgian pivot in the centre of midfield so far with Youri Tielemans, who struggled for game time last season partnering new signing from Everton Amadou Onana.

Onana, who joined for £50 million, has already scored against West Ham and Leicester but the main reason he’s been brought in is for his defensive abilities. He won 180 duels last season and will provide the bite in the central areas, giving Tielemans the freedom to be his creative best.

On the right-hand side of that four is Leon Bailey. The 27-year-old Jamaican was one of Villa’s standouts last seasons with ten goals and nine assists and his pace in behind when Villa looked to counter against the top teams was a big asset.

He scored crucial goals against both Manchester City and Arsenal last season which saw Villa beat both sides. He does tend to struggle when Villa have more possession but is still their go-to outlet, completing 57 successful dribbles last season more than all of his teammates.

There were questions raised around the signing of Morgan Rogers when Villa spent £8 million with add-ons on him back in January last year. The former Manchester City youngster was slowly introduced into the team and ended the season in fine form with goals against Brentford, Bournemouth and Chelsea. He’s carried that form into this season in the free number ten role behind the striker and has been one of Villa’s best player.

Midfield also seems to be an area where Villa are a little light squad-wise. Boubacar Kamara is a long-term injury absentee which just leaves Jacob Ramsey and Lamare Bogarde as central options.

Twenty-year-old Bogarde made his debut at right-back against Leicester and struggled in that game but put in a better performance there against Young Boys in the Champions League.

Ramsey on the other hand has 110 Premier League appearances to his name but is also making his way back from a period of injury so looks to be eased back in as he looks to recapture the form of his previous two full seasons, scoring six goals in each. He put in a man-of-the-match performance against Young Boys in the Champions League and got his first goal of the season.

The other wide option is a player Town will be very familiar with after a summer transfer saga which eventually saw Jaden Philogene returning to Aston Villa due to a buyback clause after Town looked to have a double deal for him and Jacob Greaves almost over the line. He has made two late appearances from the bench so far.

Attackers

Ollie Watkins must now fall into the category of elite strikers. He has 70 goals in 172 appearances and last season was his best yet, netting 19 goals and picking up 13 assists.

That form saw him called up for the Euros to deputise for Harry Kane and he scored the goal that was undoubtedly the biggest high of the tournament, firing in at the near post to win the semi-final against the Netherlands. It’s also worth noting he outperformed his expected goals by more than two last season.

His back-up, 20-year-old Colombian Jhon Duran is also in a similar mould. A powerful aggressive striker with an eye for goal. His starts have been limited by the quality of Watkins but he is excellent at making an impact from the bench with three goals so far this season, meaning he’s currently on a goal every 33 minutes.

With Villa in multiple competitions, Duran will be given more opportunities to show how good he can be this season and may even be given game-time alongside Watkins at some point, which is sure to cause any side a whole host of problems.

The Teams

Southampton last week was probably Town’s worst performance of the season so far but the grit and spirit saw them still come away with a point from a late Sam Morsy winner.

There are a lot of new signings and patterns of play will take time to develop, but for me there needs to be a bit more familiarity in there as well. Against Southampton six new signings started and at times if felt like they ran out of ideas.

I thought George Hirst made an impact when he came on and this could maybe be a game to run it back with the Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin, Hirst combination down that right-hand side, especially against Digne.

Lots of Town fans want to see Jack Clarke given a go from the start, which I think is more likely at home, but I'd actually move Omari Hutchinson over to the left for this one.

It’s also one that I’d bring Luke Woolfenden in again for so Town can look to control the ball a bit better, but it looks like McKenna probably favours Dara O’Shea right now.

Villa rotated pretty heavily against Wycombe in midweek so I think their team could be very similar to last Saturday’s against Wolves. McGinn went off injured in that one and Bailey is probably the most likely person to come in to replace him.

Prediction

Coming into game six without a win but with a solid return of three points this is another incredibly tough test against a Champions League club.

My heart says that with the crowd and Portman Road, where Town have definitely played their best football, with aggressive high pressing that a three points could be nicked here, but my head is going for a 2-1 defeat due to the gap in class between the two sides.

bobble added 09:40 - Sep 29 4 _0 to town
0

Blogs 297 bloggers