Aston Villa will be looking for their first points when they host Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League. Last month, the Premier League team departed Poland empty-handed, but Zrinjski miraculously came back to defeat AZ Alkmaar on the first day.
Preview (Aston Villa vs. Zrinjski Mostar)
Emery’s team have a difficult doubleheader against Dutch high-flyers AZ coming up. This loss was the club’s first in a European group-stage match since 2008. Since taking over nearly a year ago, Villa’s Basque manager has turned Villa Park into a fortress. His squad still maintains an undefeated home record after a sensational victory at the weekend. The Villans have alternated victories and losses for their previous seven games. They lost to struggling Everton in the EFL Cup only a few days. The last time out, Villa defeated fellow top-six contenders Brighton & Hove Albion 6-1. This season, they have now scored about 45 goals in 11 games across all competitions.
Zrinjski Mostar will be in England on Thursday. They can expect to meet fire with fire given that they have lately scored 12 goals in four games. Zrinjski is the first Bosnian team to go to the group stage of a UEFA competition. They rallied to overturn AZ’s 3-0 halftime advantage on the first matchday. They scored twice in a frenetic 26-minute span soon after the break. After winning 4-3 at home in Mostar in front of their home crowd, Krunoslav Rendulic’s team added nine points to their domestic total over the course of three games, most recently defeating Igman 2-0 on Sunday to move fourth in the standings. Bosnia-Herzegovina won the title by a 20-point margin. They will thus arrive in Birmingham in fine form and perhaps think they can pull off an upset.
Team News
Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia have been out for a while, but Unai Emery still has a number of options to select from as he rotates the team ahead of Sunday’s West Midlands derby against Wolves. A number of players, including Clement Lenglet, Youri Tielemans, and Jacob Ramsey, are in a position to be promoted to the starting lineup for the visitors. Jhon Duran may start up front. The in-form Ollie Watkins would be used as a replacement in the second half.
Tomislav Kis scored twice over the weekend, giving him three goals in his past two games. After being limited to a cameo against AZ, that strike rate should earn him selection as the visitors’ center striker; nevertheless, club captain Nemanja Bilbija is another strong possibility. Zvonimir Kozulj should also play on Thursday after scoring his team’s first and fourth goals in their remarkable comeback last month, although it’s unclear whether coach Krunoslav Rendulic will continue to use his preferred attacking 4-3-3 formation.
Zrinjski Mostar can be a threat to free-scoring Aston Villa, who are prepared to make changes between Premier League matches after their outstanding performance last time out in Europe. Despite last week’s tame EFL Cup exit, the Villans have proven difficult to beat at home. They could score multiple goals on the way to win.
Aston Villa 3 – 1 Zrinjski Mostar
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