Aston Villa-Lille is a match valid for the first leg of the Conference League quarterfinals and is played Thursday at 9 p.m.: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
Aston Villa, the number one candidate to win the 2023-24 Conference League, is the team everyone would have liked to avoid in the last draw in Nyon, which defined the quarterfinals and semifinals. In the end, it was “caught” by Lille, another that has the right credentials to go all the way in this competition. So a double-level challenge awaits us, between the fourth-ranked Premier League side and the Ligue 1 side.
Unai Emery’s Villans since last weekend, however, have been forced to share fourth place with Tottenham, who joined them on 60 points. The Birmingham club, in fact, has slowed down a bit too much in the last few days of the league, winning only one game since March and suffering some sound defeats such as those with Tottenham (0-4) and Manchester City (4-1). Last Saturday, meanwhile, Aston Villa recorded another misstep, drawing 3-3 with dangerous Brentford at Villa Park. Yet another wake-up call for a defense that is conceding too many goals and is much less solid than in the first part of the season. Emery’s men, however, seem to have no rivals in the Conference League: in the round of 16 they disposed of Ajax, overwhelming them 4-0 after a deadlocked draw in Amsterdam.
Lille is healthy
Maximum attention, however, to a Lille that is going through a positive period and especially that is undefeated since late February, between cup and league.
Paulo Fonseca’s Dogues play proactive soccer, can count on a thick striker like Canadian David esumany good players, from Yoro to Zhegrova. After archiving the Sturm Graz file (0-3 in Austria and 1-1 in France), the team coached by the former Roma coach drew with Brest and beat Lens and Marseille, confirming their impeccable performance in front of their own public (only one defeat so far).
The prediction
Aston Villa is favored but it may not go smoothly for Emery’s men, who have been discontinuous lately. Lille, moreover, is in a good moment and will try to keep the qualification games open as much as possible ahead of the return match. In light of the Villans’ defensive problems and considering that the Dogues have been scoring uninterruptedly since January, we imagine a match of at least one goal on each side.
The probable lineups of Aston Villa-Lille
ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Martinez; Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Moreno; Bailey, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Rogers; Diaby, Watkins.
LILLE (4-3-3): Mannone; Santos, Yoro, Alexsandro, Ismaïly; Bentaleb, André, Gudmundsson; Zhegrova, David, Haraldsson.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
