Aston Villa face RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up for the clash.
Villa go in search of three crucial points in Germany this week, as we look to strengthen our chances of advancing to the next stage directly by securing a top-eight finish in the league phase.
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After a brilliant start to our European campaign, defeat at Club Brugge was followed by a goalless draw at home against Juventus last time out, and so it’s hoped that we can rediscover our winning touch, just as we have done domestically with consecutive wins in the Premier League over the past week.
Despite their poor form in the Champions League thus far, Leipzig are a threat and possess quality in their side, and so there was intrigue over the Villa starting XI that Emery would put out having made changes at the weekend in our win over Southampton.
As per the club’s post below, Villa have made three changes from the weekend, with Matty Cash, Lucas Digne and Ollie Watkins coming in for Ian Maatsen, Leon Bailey and Jhon Duran.
Further, there’s intrigue over our set-up for this encounter with Emery seemingly opting for a back three, with the responsibility then on Cash and Digne to provide width.
It’s an interesting new look that hopefully provides a fresh dynamic to our play both in and out of possession, but the most important thing will be returning home with a positive result to edge closer to qualifying for the next stage of the Champions League.
As is often the case this season, the Villa boss has a strong bench at his disposal should we wish to make changes depending on the game situation, but hopefully we’re in a strong position going into the latter stages of the encounter and can bring in quality to help us see out the desired outcome.
Tonight’s team to face RB Leipzig in the #UCL 👊 pic.twitter.com/pFAEUtibwx
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024