Squawka
·5. November 2024
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·5. November 2024
Aston Villa will look to maintain their perfect record in the Champions League this season when they play their fourth league-phase match on the road against Club Brugge on Wednesday 6th November. The match at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges will be shown on TNT Sports 2 at 17:45 GMT.
Club Brugge (4-2-3-1): Mignolet; Seys, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper; Jashari, Vetlesen; Skov Olsen, Vanaken, Tzolis; Vermant
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Konsa, Mings, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Ramsey; Duran.
Villa have picked up three victories without conceding a goal in Europe this season, winning 3-0 at Young Boys before a pair of impressive home successes. First, Unai Emery’s team scored a tremendous 1-0 home win over German giants Bayern Munich and they followed that with another impressive success, beating Serie A side Bologna 2-0 at Villa Park.
They have had their first form dip of the season since, with a home league draw against Bournemouth followed by an EFL Cup defeat by Crystal Palace and a 4-1 loss at Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, but they should be looking forward to their latest European date.
Brugge have had a tough schedule to start their Champions League campaign, losing 3-0 to Borussia Dortmund and 3-1 to Milan, but in between they were able to get a 1-0 away win on the board against Sturm Graz.
They are second in the Belgian Pro League, but seven points behind leaders Genk, after winning seven of their first 13 matches.
If Club Brugge are going to upset the odds and secure a home win against Villa, they will have to snap a long winless run against English opposition stretching back 14 matches.
The Belgian side have lost 11 of those encounters, with their last win over English opposition being a 1-0 Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final first-leg success over Chelsea in 1995, but even then they lost the second leg 2-0.
After that they lost to Tottenham, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester United and Leicester and their last three games against Premier League opposition all ended in heavy defeats.
They went down 5-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Europa League in 2020 and were beaten 5-1 and 4-1 in their Champions League group games against Manchester City in the 2021-22 season.
Brugge will be without their holding midfielder Raphael Onyedika, who is suspended after receiving a red card in the Champions League defeat by Milan. Gustaf Nilsson (Achilles) is also out while Joaquin Seys and Hugo Vetlesen could start if shaking off knocks.
Matty Cash and Ross Barkley are set to miss out due to injuries for Villa while forward Morgan Rogers went off with an ankle issue at Tottenham but should be available.
Manager Unai Emery could choose to start Jhon Duran up front ahead of Ollie Watkins. Tyrone Mings could start in defence, with Ezri Konsa playing at right-back in place of Cash and Ian Maatsen on the left.