After defeating Tottenham Hotspur on the road on Sunday, Aston Villa is presently ranked inside the top four of the Premier League, demonstrating Underai Emery’s leadership that the team is constantly making progress.
But after losing the rematch against Legia Warsaw in September, the Villans are aiming to advance to the next round of the Europa Conference League. A victory at home against the Polish team would be enough to keep Emery’s team from making it to the knockout stage.
On the first day of the competition, the Polish team was awarded all three points by an effort by Albanian forward Ernst Muci in the second half. However, Villa has since won three straight games in the competition and is looking for a fourth tonight.
Nevertheless, Emery may decide to switch up his starting lineup soon because he has games against Bournemouth on the road and Manchester City and Arsenal at home over the next two weeks. This is Villa’s expected starting lineup for the matchup with Legia.
GK – Emiliano Martinez
The only game that backup goalkeeper Robin Olsen has played in this season is an EFL Cup loss at home against Everton, which went down 2-1. Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa’s first choice custodian, has started every match thus far, and it’s unlikely that he will start any others after earning an 8.2 match rating over the weekend from Sofascore, which was higher than all of his teammates.
LB – Lucas Digne
Lucas Digne gave his team two chances on Sunday, including a big one, and put in a great shift away at Spurs. He also finished with eight crosses into the box. He also won two tackles, made four ball recoveries, and made two clearances.
The Frenchman is an important player for Emery in all competitions thus far, and tonight won’t change as he has started all four of Aston Villa’s games in Europe.
CB – Pau Torres
Pau Torres ought to be the player who starts against Legia, if there is one. Due to his outstanding performance on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Spaniard received an 8/10 rating on Sofascore. He scored the equaliser in the first half of extra time.
Torres also won all 100 of his tackles, recovered the ball five times, made two clearances, one interception and cleared the ball off the line to deny Spurs a goal that would have tied the score once more.
CB – Ezri Konsa
Emery chose to use Konsa at right-back over the weekend, which forced Matty Cash to play a more advanced position. Digne would move forward on the other side, leaving Villa with a back three, and Konsa would slide in next to Torres and Diego Carlos. This move was made by the Spanish coach in an effort to strengthen the defence at the back.
Since the Villans are the favourites in this European match, the manager may decide to start Konsa at centre back and drop Carlos to the bench. Carlos has started just 38% of Villa’s games this season, making him the most likely to start from the bench.
RB – Matty Cash
Last weekend, Matty Cash started in a more attacking role while Konsa filled in at right-back. The Poland international was sent off at halftime after losing four of his six ground duels, failing to deliver a single accurate cross, and getting lucky to survive a nasty challenge on Rodrigo Bentancur.
However, Cash has remained Emery’s man on the right side of defence, and even a bad game won’t alter this; instead, the 26-year-old will probably go back to where he feels most comfortable on the team.
LM – Leon Bailey
One of Aston Villa’s most potent offensive players is Leon Bailey. The Jamaican international is in the top 4% for assists per 90, the top 2% for expected assists per 90, and the top 7% for successful take-ons per 90 when compared to all wingers in the top five leagues in Europe over the previous season.
The 26-year-old, who didn’t make the starting lineup over the weekend, entered the game off the bench for Cash in the second half and might get the start from the manager tonight.
LCM – John McGinn
Emery has an easy choice in this crucial game. With an average match rating of 7.3, club captain John McGinn is the third-highest performer for Villa this season and has been one of the team’s better players since the former head coach of Arsenal took over.
DM – Boubacar Kamara
Boubacar Kamara has started every Midlands club’s Europa League match thus far, with the exception of a home match against Zrinjski at the beginning of October that he was unable to attend due to injury.
Additionally, since that minor knock, the Frenchman has been in the shocking lineup in every game, and this European tie won’t be any different.
RCM – Jacob Ramsey
Since September, Jacob Ramsey has not been able to play for Aston Villa due to a recurring foot injury. Nevertheless, the 22-year-old, who was previously hailed as “outstanding” by former head coach Steven Gerrard, spent one minute on Sunday coming off the bench.
Emery has the ideal opportunity to get the Englishman back into the starting lineup against Legia, as he hasn’t started the season. The manager can also use this match to rest Douglas Luiz, who was benched in Villa’s most recent Europa Conference League match against AZ Alkmaar.
RM – Moussa Diaby
Moussa Diaby had a difficult game against Spurs last week, finishing only 33% of his dribbles and 20% of his ground duels.
At halftime, Youri Tielemans entered the fight, quickly replacing the attacker. However, Diaby and Bailey on the wings could cause havoc at Villa Park as Aston Villa are the hosts against a weaker opponent.
ST – Ollie Watkins
Ollie Watkins is not just Aston Villa’s top goalscorer this season, he is also the fifth-highest scorer in the Premier League, having found the net 12 times in all competitions. Bailey and Luiz are joint in second place with only half of Watkins’ tally.
If Villa are to put Legia away with ease, the former Brentford man needs to start up top once more to ensure qualification to the next round.
Aston Villa predicted XI vs Legia in full: GK – Martinez; LB – Digne, CB, Torres, CB – Konsa, RB – Cash; LM – Bailey, LCM – McGinn, DM – Kamara, RCM – Ramsey, RM – Diaby; ST – Watkins.
