Aston Villa take on the visitors Lille in the second leg of UEFA Europa League round of 1/8-finals. First leg result: 1-0. The match will be played on Thursday, March 19th at Villa Park (Birmingham).
Aston Villa even played in the Champions League last season under Unai Emery — and only Paris Saint-Germain stopped them in the playoffs. On the other hand, that campaign ended with disappointment, as they narrowly missed out on 5th place in the Premier League, losing out to Newcastle United on points. Recently Aston Villa have looked confident in European matches, maintaining a solid run of results and showing good game control. At home they remain especially dangerous, regularly converting their chances and putting pressure on opponents from the first minutes. There have also been setbacks this season, including in domestic cups. And in the league, after climbing to 3rd place following a slow start, they began to drop points again closer to spring. However, in the Europa League, Emery and his team have once again been impressive. The English side came through the main round with 7 wins — only slipping up against modest Go Ahead Eagles. That did not prevent them from advancing directly to the Round of 16. Already there, the visitors from Birmingham managed to score the only goal away from home — it turned out to be decisive, and now even a draw will be enough.
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Lille are still trying to achieve success. The Mastiffs are also used to success. Last season can hardly be considered a positive one, and the ending was similar to their current opponent: qualifying for the Champions League playoffs came at the cost of domestic performance — though in their case they finished 4th, behind Nice. Recently Lille have struggled for consistency, alternating good performances with unexpected defeats, which affects their position in the standings. Their recent away results have been particularly unstable, making it harder to build momentum in crucial fixtures. Things have not gone perfectly this season either: they were knocked out of the cup quite early and are battling in a tightly contested race for positions in Ligue 1 — a top-three finish is still possible, but the chances are decreasing. In European competition, Bruno Génésio’s side recorded four wins and four defeats. Moreover, in February they even lost 0–1 at home to Red Star Belgrade. Fortunately, in the return leg they managed to score twice without conceding, thus advancing to the next round.
Two years ago, the teams met in the Conference League playoffs. Back then they exchanged 2–1 victories, but The Villans advanced to the semifinals on penalties. The English side were stronger away from home — so why would they give their opponent a chance on their own ground? The expectation is that they will secure another victory.
Prediction for the match: Aston Villa to win.
