Lille at Villa Park and match facts from the BBC

While it is a great time to be an Aston Villa fan, with one win in the last six in the Premier League, many could be forgiven for feeling a little nervous. 

But tonight isn't the Premier League and we have done quite well in Europe. And it's important to mention, while our Premier League run hasn't been great of late, the teams chasing us are also dropping points, albeit doing a little better.

I write that because we can get better, they wont and they may drop off. And we have a nice break coming up, so that could give us an opportunity to get players back and will give us a chance to rest up.

But this post is about tonight and even thought we start the match with a lead, it's only one goal and that suggests we need to score. This means, we can't just sit back and hope for a 0-0 draw. Lille will come out and they will go looking for a goal and that momentum can carry them.

We need to stop that first and we need to remind them that they're at Villa Park. I'm not entirely sure how we do that but I could write that we need to approach this game as if we're chasing a 1-0 deficit. It's so important we score tonight and dare I say it, I think we might need to score more than once or twice.

get through tonight and we'll find ourselves in a much better place for the next round. Tonight and West Ham on Sunday are important matches to win. It will settle things down. And that said, I'm in London, so if there are any recommendations for pubs in central London where I can watch the match, please let me know below. 

Match facts from the BBC

• Aston Villa’s only previous time hosting Lille in major European competition came in the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League, winning 2-1 in the first leg of a quarter-final tie; the Villans lost 2-1 in the second leg but did eventually progress on penalties. 

• Lille have never won on nine previous visits to England in major European competition (D1 L8), losing their last seven in a row since a 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Aston Villa have won each of their last six UEFA Europa League games and the only English team to put together a longer winning streak in the competition are Chelsea between April 2013 and November 2018, an eight-match run which encompassed the 2012-13 final.

• Lille have lost six games in the UEFA Europa League this season, their outright most defeats in a major European campaign – they have also lost three of their last four away matches, but did beat Crvena Zvezda 2-0 in the previous round.

• Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins will be looking to score in back-to-back major European appearances for the first time since April 2024, when the second goal came against Lille in the UEFA Conference League; four of the Englishman’s last five goals in Europe have come in the knockout stages, with Lille one of two sides he has netted more than once against (also AZ).