Key events
As for Villa, headline news is that John McGinn is back but on the bench; otherwise there are four changes to the side spanked by Chelsea with Matty Cash, Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen and Leon Bailey left out; Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Lamare Bogarde and Jadon Sancho come in.
I can’t lie, I’m disappointed we’ll not get to see Ayyoub Bouaddi from the start – I’ve heard great things – and he’s one of three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Lorient on Sunday. His spot in midfield goes to Ngal’Ayel Mukau while, at the back, Chancel Mbemba replaces Nathan Ngoy and up front, Mathias Fernande-Pardo drops out with young Olivier Giroud coming in.
Teams!
Lille (4-3-3): Ozer; Santos, Mbemba, Mandi, Perroud; Mukou, Andre, Bentaleb; Perrin, Giroud, Haraldsson. Subs: Bodart, Lanssade, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Fernandez-Pardo, Miller, Edjouma, Verdonk, Correia, Bouaddi, Diaoune, Boussadia.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Pau, Digne; Sancho, Luiz, Onana, Rogers; Buendia, Watkins. Subs: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Lindelof, Maatsen, Garcia, McGinn, Elliott, Bailey, Abraham.
Referee: José María Sánchez (Spain)
Preamble
Football is weird and so are people – that’s one reason we’re all here. But even by the standard, Aston Villa are in the midst of a weird season, still with plenty of scope for epochal glory and abject failure.
They opened the season poorly, failing to win in their first six games, but from there, Unai Emery’s men went on a run of 17 from 19, playing not that well, before the Ghost of xG past began its haunting; the following 15 fixtures yielded just six victories and they arrive at this one having lost three and drawn one of their last four. As such, the Champions League spot that looked almost certain to be theirs is now in serious jeopardy, while tonight’s tie, against the sixth-best team in Ligue 1, looks a lot more losable that would previously have been the case.
It’s not difficult to grasp why: any team would miss players as good as Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans, never mind at the same time, with Matt E. Cash freshly absent. But, at the same time, this doesn’t explain why they’ve scored nine goals fewer than the next-worst in the Premier League top six, while the home tousing they took from Chelsea last time out highlighted their vulnerability to channel-balls in behind, the issue systemic rather than one of personnel.
However, club captain John McGinn is fit again, his return bringing an uplift as much mental as technical, and with attackers as talented as Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendía in their XI, they’re always a game away from clicking. They know that, in form, they’ve a serious shot at immortality but, out of it, only regret and shame await. And because football and people are weird, those of us without skin in the game now get to enjoy watching them squirm.
Kick-off: 5.45pm GMT
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