Aston Villa-Villarreal is a friendly and will be played on Thursday at 21:00: news, stats, formations, predictions, live TV and streaming.
The Unai Emery match. The Spanish coach, undisputed king of the Europa League, is preparing to reunite with his old players in tonight’s friendly between Aston Villa and Villarreal at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. Only a month ago the former Sevilla, Psg and Arsenal coach was still sitting on the bench of the Submarino Amarillo.
Emery was in fact ‘bought’ by the English club, who decided to pay the 6 million clause – all legal in the Premier League, at any time of the season – and grab the main architect of the Villarreal ‘fairytale’, which in the space of a couple of seasons triumphed in the Europa League and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. In charge since last November, Emery took over from the exonerated Steven Gerrard and immediately made his debut with two wins in a row in the Premier League, against Manchester United and Brighton. In between was the League Cup defeat to the Red Devils, who took immediate revenge.
Aston Villa have already played three friendlies in recent weeks: a loss to Cardiff City, a draw (2-2) with De Zerbi’s Brighton and a 1-0 win over Chelsea. The aim is to arrive ready for the match on 26 December, the traditional Boxing Day, against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Villarreal will restart a few days earlier, already committed on the 20th against Guijuelo in the Copa del Rey. La Liga will resume on the 30th of December, when the derby with Valencia will take place at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
The Spanish side are now led by the experienced Quique Setien, who took over from the departing Emery: after a traumatic start – three defeats in a row between La Liga and the Conference League – Villarreal beat Espanyol 1-0 and Santa Amalia 9-0 in the Copa del Rey. Villarreal have just returned from two friendlies with Turkish sides Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, losing 2-1 to Fenerbahçe and winning in a pyrotechnic 4-3 to Galatasaray.
Quique Setien
The Prediction
It is shaping up to be an open and potentially spectacular match between two teams without many title holders and who will make many changes over the course of the 90 minutes. It cannot be ruled out that the total number of goals could be at least four.
The likely Aston Villa-Villarreal line-up
- ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Olsen; Young, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Raikhy, Kamara, Douglas Luiz, McGinn; Bailey, Watkins.
- VILLARREAL (4-3-3): Reina; Fermina, Albiol, Cuenca, Mojica; Coquelin, Capoue, Parejo; Chukwueze, Moreno, Baena.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-2
