Aston Villa v Salzburg: Line-ups, stats and preview

Match Preview for Aston Villa v Salzburg

Aston Villa can afford to make changes for tomorrow night’s Europa League clash with Salzburg having already secured their place in the round of 16 without the need to compete in the playoffs next month.

Unai Emery’s men have mirrored their impressive Premier League form in Europe’s second tier competition and currently sit second in the standings behind Lyon having won six of their seven games.

Only Villa and the Ligue 1 side are guaranteed to finish in the top eight ahead the final round of fixtures.

A game free of jeopardy – and travel – has enabled Villa to focus on transfer matters in the final days of the January transfer window. Tammy Abraham has completed a move back to Villa Park from Besiktas while another former Villa hero Douglas Luiz is reportedly on the verge of joining from Juventus with the Turin club set to terminate his current loan deal at Nottingham Forest.

Neither man will be available tomorrow night but, should the deal for Luiz go through, both would be in contention for the weekend clash with Brentford.

Unlike Villa, Salzburg have plenty to play for.

The Austrian side will start the night in 28th place and needing to make up a two-point deficit if they are to stand any chance of securing a playoff spot awarded to the top 24-placed teams.

Their hopes were boosted by the 3-1 defeat of Basel last week in what was their first competitive game since December with the domestic league on a winter break.

Head coach Thomas Letsch said: “The win against Basel was incredibly important for us. Now we at least have a theoretical chance of achieving something with a victory against the second-placed team in the Europa League and the third-placed team in the Premier League. We also know that we need help from other teams, and nine points might not be enough.”

Team News for Aston Villa v Salzburg

Villa have plenty of injury problems, particularly in midfield with Youri Tielemans joining John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara on the sidelines.

Lamare Bogarde and Amadou Onana are likely to form the pairing in the centre of the park.

The departure of Donyell Malen means Ollie Watkins is the only senior striker available.

Salzburg will be without Takumu Kawamura, John Mellberg and Valentin Sulzbacher. Yorbe Vertessen is a doubt.

Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa v Salzburg

Aston Villa: Bizot; Cash, Lindelof, Mings, Digne; Bogarde, Onana, Hemmings; Guessand, Sancho; Watkins

Salzburg: Schlager; Trummer, Gadou, Schuster, Kratzig; Kitano, Diabate, Bidstrup; Baidoo, Ratkov, Alajbegovic

How to watch Aston Villa v Salzburg

Aston Villa versus Salzburg kicks off at 8pm UK time tomorrow night. It is being shown on TNT Sports in the UK and can be streamed via the discovery+ app.

To watch elsewhere in the world, click HERE to find your local rights holder.

Stats for Aston Villa v Salzburg

• Aston Villa and Salzburg have never met before
• Salzburg are winless in all eight previous European meetings with English teams (D2 L6)
• Including qualifiers, Aston Villa have won 14 of their last 16 home matches in European competition