The first leg between Aston Villa and Lille wasn’t exactly the most entertaining spectacle, but the Premier League side came away with a 1-0 win, as Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game.

It was a composed performance from Villa on their travels, and that result puts them in a commanding position for the second leg. Even though a draw will do for them, Villa will want to come away with the win on home turf here. 

The hosts have been a bit inconsistent at Villa Park in recent weeks, and they have only won two of their last seven home matches across all competitions. Before that, Unai Emery’s men had won 11 matches on the spin at home, in a run stretching from September to January.

They will hope to recover that kind of form and use this game against Lille to start a streak.

Villa excel in these kinds of situations, where they don’t have much pressure on them, so they can sit back, absorb pressure, and play on the counter.

Lille will have to be front-footed in their approach here, which could leave them exposed in transition. Lille weren’t shown a card in that first-leg defeat, but they have seen a massive uptick in bookings when playing away. 

Lille are averaging 1.65 cards per game at home this season, which is much lower than their average of 2.79 cards per game on the road. This selection has landed in four of their five Europa League away matches this season, where Lille have accrued 12 yellows and one red in that time. 

Meanwhile, Aston Villa rank top of the Premier League charts for total cards drawn this campaign, and this selection has landed in each of the last five matches at Villa Park. 

Trailing by one goal in the tie, Lille will have to bring the intensity in their approach, so players like Konsa could be incredibly useful.

At the other end of the field, Morgan Rogers will be a key player for Villa, and he should be looking forward to this matchup. The 23-year-old had four shots in the reverse fixture, out of nine in total for Aston Villa, taking his average to 2.39 shots per 90 for the season. 

His goal against Bournemouth put Rogers into double figures for the season, highlighting the threat he can carry in the final third. Even though he hasn’t scored in the seven games since then, Rogers’ shot volume has remained high, and he has landed this selection in six of those matches.

He only missed this mark against Newcastle in a 3-1 defeat, but Villa should have much more success going forward here. 

Lille were lucky to see none of their players pick up a card in the first leg, as they went unpunished for 11 infringements. Former Arsenal man Olivier Giroud accounted for two of those fouls against Villa, and he could look to force the issue once again on Thursday night. 

Giroud is averaging 1.52 fouls per 90 across all competitions this season, and has landed this selection in each of his last three starts. He draws an excellent matchup to improve that figure even more, as his primary matchup will be Ezri Konsa at the back. 

The centre back is averaging 1.36 fouls per 90 across all competitions, rising steeply to 2.32 in the Europa League. He is adept at drawing soft-free kicks when Villa find themselves under a bit of pressure, which can be so useful to allow his side to establish some possession.