Unai Emery has selected his Aston Villa starting XI to face Lille in the Europa League this evening
Aston Villa's Jadon Sancho
Aston Villa's Jadon Sancho(Image: AP)
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Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has named his starting XI for the first leg of the club’s Europa League round of 16 clash against Lille.
He has made four changes from the team that lost 4-1 to Chelsea last week, as Lamare Bogarde, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne and Jadon Sancho all come in.
Emi Martinez starts in goal, with a back four of Bogarde, Ezri Konsa, Torres, and Digne.
Amadou Onana and Douglas Luiz operate in the double pivot, while Sancho, Morgan Rogers, and Emi Buendia support striker Ollie Watkins.
John McGinn returns to the squad and takes a place on the bench, while Harvey Elliott is also named among the substitutes. Matty Cash, however, misses out due to injury.
Villa come into the game after consecutive defeats against Wolves and Chelsea, having lost three or more matches under Emery on only three occasions.
Opponents Lille won four and lost four of their eight group-stage matches, qualifying for the round of 16 after defeating Crvena zvezda 2-1 on aggregate in the knockout play-offs.
Emery’s side have won their last five UEFA Europa League matches, marking Villa’s longest-ever winning streak in major European competition. The last English team to win six consecutive Europa League matches was Arsenal between October and December 2020.
Villa have never won an away European match in France in six attempts, losing the last three in a row.
Villa starting XI: Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Luiz; Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Lindelof, Maatsen, Garcia, McGinn, Elliott, Bailey, Abraham.
Lille starting XI: Ozer; Santos, Mbemba, Mandi, Perraud; Mukau, Andre, Bentaleb; Perrin, Giroud, Haraldsson.
Subs: Bodart, Lanssade, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Fernandez-Pardo, Miller, Edjouma, Verdonk, Correia, Bouaddi, Diaoune, Boussadia.