It feels like it has been a long time since Champions League football was secured. Today is the day that Aston Villa return to the highest level of European football after 41 years. The passing of Gary Shaw has brought a shadow over the occasion, but it can also act as a motivational factor. The Champions League has a new format, and the projection is that nine points will secure the playoff position for the round of 16. Villa has a superb opportunity to get three of those points on matchday one when they visit BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.
Villa’s opposition are the reigning Swiss champions when they secured their 17th title by 12 points. This season has been a struggle and YB, as they are known, are currently bottom with three losses and three draws. YB has won two cup games with the last being a 4-2 away win at the weekend against third tier opposition. It has been an inauspicious start for the Swiss team so far; the only upside has been an impressive home and away win against Galatasaray to secure their place in the Champions League.
YB has regularly played in the Champions League and finished in third place in Group G last year. Striker Meschack Elia top scored with two goals with one being at home against Manchester City. Filip Ugrinic is another YB player to watch out for and it was his 86th minute penalty that secured the win at home to Galatasaray. YB is unbeaten after losing the first three games of the season but have kept just two clean sheets so far.
The big question for Villa is who Unai Emery will choose to start the game. Emery will be mindful of a strong start in the competition but will temper that against rotating his squad to keep players fresh. The news that Leon Bailey could feature suggests that he may well get some time from the bench. Up front posing problems of a nice kind with the ‘Ollie Watkins or Jhon Durán or both’ quandary. I would think that it will be one plus Morgan Rogers to start with the other coming on at some point too. That feels more like Durán to wreak havoc as he did on Saturday.
Midfield poses more questions with the possibility of resting Youri Tielemans while Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley are in the middle. There are so many options and configurations for Emery, it must be like Christmas every day when looking at the middle of the park.
An away game against lesser team, on paper at least, feels like an opportunity for the back four to find their feet and press for a clean sheet. Everton exposed the frailties too easily and that must be addressed. I would think that Kosta Nedeljković will start at right back. His experience of not only playing Champions League football but against this opposition will be too tempting as a replacement for Lamare Bogarde. Another question is whether Ian Maatsen, in the Champions League team of the year last season, will get his first start for Villa.
The one fly in the ointment is YB’s artificial pitch. It depends on your point of view, but the surface could be seen as an injury-inducing nightmare. There is more to the fact that Villa don’t play on the surface regularly and YB do and will have an advantage. If Villa keep doing their thing going forward, it won’t matter.
Prediction: 3-1 away win