Looking to climb to the top of Group E and qualify into the knockout stages of the 2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League, Aston Villa take on Legia Warsaw tonight at Villa Park.
Here’s the latest heading into this match-day five fixture in the West-Midlands…
Words by: Liam Davies
THE BUILD UP
Aston Villa can qualify as winners of Group E and progress into the round of 16 if they are to beat their mid-week opponents, Legia Warsaw, by two or more goals at Villa Park. The Ekstraklasa outfit currently occupy top spot due to their superior head-to-head record against Unai Emery’s side, having defeated the Villans by three goals to two when the teams met in the opening day fixture at the Stadion Wojska Polskiego in September.
The claret and blue side have since turned their form around in Europe, however, and are just a point away from guaranteeing qualification out of the group with two games to go.
Emery’s men enter today’s fixture on the back of their superb victory in North-London where they came from behind to see off Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur by two goals to one.
Giovanni Lo Celso opened the scoring for the home side in the 22nd minute, before defender Pau Torres powered in a header to equalise in half-time stoppage time.
Ollie Watkins would grab his twelfth of season and the match-winner around the hour mark as Villa held on for all three points; a result that saw them leapfrog Spurs into fourth in the Premier League.
The West-Midlands side will be looking to exact revenge on their Polish counterparts prior to Sunday’s trip to the south-coast where they face Andoni Iraola’s AFC Bournemouth.
Wojskowi enter the upcoming game on the back of a 2-2 draw at home to Warta Poznań, having come from 2-0 behind in the fixture.
Poznań’s Tomáš Přikryl opened the scoring inside seven minutes in the Polish capital, before Hungarian forward Márton Eppel made it two from the penalty spot in the 40th minute.
Kosta Runjaić’s side would reply just before the break with captain Josué also converting from 12-yards as Legia went in a goal down at half-time. It would take until the 63rd minute for the hosts to find a leveller as Ernest Muçi, the man that bagged a brace against Aston Villa in September, found the back of the net.
Despite Legioniśc’s dominance in the second showing, they could not find a winner and would have to settle for a point at home.
Unai Emery believes his players have reacted well to the setback suffered last time these two sides met. Speaking on the progress of his team, he said: “We started this competition at the beginning, playing against Hibernian, and we did very good work. Then when we were in the group we started against Warszawa and they were really playing well.
The head coach also gave his thoughts on tonight’s opposition and the prospect of finishing top of Group E. He said: “Tomorrow against Legia Warszawa both teams are going to play trying to take another step ahead in this competition and see who is first in the group.
TEAM NEWS
ASTON VILLA
Nicolò Zaniolo is back available for selection, having missed the previous encounter against Tottenham Hotspur through injury.
The Italian picked up a knock on the back of the international break, but was spotted in a training video released on the club’s twitter page on Wednesday and is in contention tonight at Villa Park.
Jacob Ramsey completed his comeback from injury at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend, replacing John McGinn in the midfield in the closing stages and could feature tonight. Additionally, Left-back Àlex Moreno was named on the Aston Villa bench for a fourth consecutive game in North-London but is still yet to feature in claret and blue this term. The Spaniard will be looking to gain his first minutes at Villa Park this evening.
Elsewhere, midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who picked up a fifth yellow of the campaign (in the Premier League) on Sunday, is available to play this evening but will miss the trip to Bournemouth on the weekend through suspension, while Emi Buendía and Tyrone Mings miss out with their long-term knee injuries.
Commenting on team news in yesterday’s press conference, head coach Unai Emery said: “Today we were training with everybody, feeling good. We are going to play a lot of matches: tomorrow, Sunday, next week another two matches.
“Tomorrow morning we are going to meet and I’m going to decide how we are.”
LEGIA WARSZAWA
Midfielder Rafał Augustyniak is considered a doubt for today’s game at Villa Park after missing Saturday’s draw with Warta Poznań through injury.
An update on the 30-year-old on the club website read: “The only question mark should be placed on Rafał Augustyniak, who missed the last match against Warta Poznań due to an injury.”
Elsewhere, young defender Ramil Mustafaev remains out with a long-term knee injury, while ex-Leicester City youngster Bartosz Kapustka and midfielder Filip Rejczyk have both recently returned to training on the back of injury and could feature in the West-Midlands tonight.
Additionally, Kosta Runjaić is set to welcome centre-half Steve Kapuadi back into the fold for the upcoming fixture against their Premier League opposition, having missed their weekend league game through suspension. Kapuadi is expected to slot straight back into the back-line and will likely feature alongside the likes of Yuri Ribeiro, Paweł Wszołek and Tomáš Pekhart.
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A BIT ON LEGIA WARSZAWA
Legia Warsaw currently sit 6th after 15 games played in the Ekstraklasa with what has been a mixed campaign for the Polish side.
Kosta Runjaić’s team began the season strongly, taking 20 points from a possible 24 after the opening eight games, while also qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League with victories over FC Ordabasy, FK Austria Wien and FC Midtjylland. The Legionaries also saw success in the Super Cup, defeating Raków Częstochowa on penalties to claim silverware before the start of the league term.
Since then, however, Warszawa’s form has been nothing short of varied. Following the eight game unbeaten start, Legia lost four on the bounce in the league, falling at the hands of Jagiellonia Białystok, Raków, Śląsk Wrocław and Stal Mielec in what was a really struggled month of October.
Three wins and two draws in all competitions since has seen the 15-time Ekstraklasa champions pick up their form, but another league winning season now looks unlikely with an eleven point gap between them and top spot around the halfway point in the calendar.
Despite the disappointing league position, it has been a really positive European campaign for the Polish side. After their hard-thought qualifying fixtures, Legia pulled off that shock result against Villa on the opening match-day of Group E, claiming a big three points at home. A tight 1-0 away defeat at AZ Alkmaar was followed by victory over HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, before the 20-time Polish Cup winners completed the double over the Bosnian side with a comfortable 2-0 triumph last time out.
Wojskowi enter tonight’s game as the underdogs, but will take confidence knowing they can get the better of their claret and blue opponents and the fact that a point will see them out of Group E.
Can Runjaić’s men pull off a shock double and guarantee top spot or will Unai Emery’s in-form Aston Villa continue their impressive home form and exact revenge on the Ekstraklasa outfit?
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MY PREDICTED LINE-UP
Let’s take a look at my predicted line-up for this upcoming fixture in the UEFA Europa Conference League…
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