Feeling confident for Aston Villa at Villa Park on Tuesday against PSG | OneFootball

A lot of excitement surrounding this year's Aston Villa team was deflated following the defeat in Paris against PSG. It could have been the same 3-1 scoreline, but most expected a less obvious difference in terms of quality between how the two sides would approach the first leg of the Champions League bout.

In any event, Luis Enrique showed the full array of options that he has in the attack, while Unai Emery elected to stay in the low block and seek moments to score on the counterattack. Now faced with a two-goal deficit, Villa will need to break out of the defensive shell and open up.

This leads some to question whether it's worth believing in AVFC being able to pull off a miracle of a result. Despite how well PSG looked, it is far from a lost cause. One goal would be enough to make what will undoubtedly be an incredible atmosphere; getting the lead would only make the crowd further go off. Behind the wave of energy at Villa Park, the belief of the players would be enough to push for the tying second goal.

As long as the clean sheet is maintained and the Villans grab a first-half goal, they'll like their chances to make a game of it. This team is hard to break down at Villa Park, and one goal will be more than enough to further instill the belief throughout Emery's side that an aggregate equalizer is possible.

Lesson from first leg for Aston Villa

The question will be at outside back. As long as Matty Cash can avoid too many early, blatant fouls, then the cover of a possible Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings should be enough against the PSG players coming from the flanks. On the left, Lucas Digne can equally be trusted in the starting XI. They will know that they won't have as much midfield cover, with the likes of Youri Tielemans not being able to sit back as defensively as he did in Paris.

Knowing what the alternative is and, more importantly, what's possible, whoever Emery picks at these critical positions will enjoy and relish being in a position to play a vital role in progressing through to the CL semi-finals. The odds are stacked against Aston Villa by nature of the current scoreline. Expect Emery and those in the claret and blue to not act like it on Tuesday.