Europa League: Go Ahead Eagles vs Villa

I’ll confess I’d never heard of our opponent until the fixtures came out and wondered from the name whether they were actually a football club or some sort of youth organization. But they are indeed a club sitting 12th in the Eredivisie following a mixed start. They have beaten Panathinaikos, though, so one would hope Villa are taking things seriously. You want all the points you can get.

You also want to sustain momentum. It’s been better since Bologna and Villa haven’t lost in eight, but with Pep & Co up at the weekend, Villa really could use a very solid performance. There’s belief, sure, but for me it’s still all about progression, being more settled and cohesive. With Rogers finally firing home, you’d like to think the goal-scoring burden could be lifted from Buendia and McGinn, and you’d like to see what he can bring helping out the rest of the side. Same would go for Ollie.

Now, no idea how Emery is going to approach this one with an eye on City. We know he often doesn’t make dramatic departures, but he’ll want to manage minutes for the main guns and it is an opportunity for Elliott and Sancho perhaps to do something useful. Like everyone, I’d have thought young Harvey would’ve had more minutes by now, but in Emery we trust and all that. Buendia’s also done his part in keeping Elliott out of the side, and, I’m assuming McGinn as well, set-up wise.

As we know, sometimes Emery introduces players right away (Onana, Guessand), other times he waits. While he’s talked about fitness and bedding into the system, it’s clear that for whatever reason, there still isn’t a high enough degree of trust to displace known quantities. And since I’ve been traveling and catching up, I may well have missed some injury updates in doing quick news scans.

Folks are quick to label the Spurs match as a statement victory. Might well be true, it looks good on paper and certainly better than the alternative, but so far, Spurs are still a bit of an unknown quantity. City, well, however they’re going it will tell you something.

So, however Emery and the players see tonight’s match and opponent, they need to go out, do a job and set themselves up for Sunday.

Over to you.