Ceemo

Results from last night: Ajax 0-0 Aston Villa Molde 2-1 Club Brugge Olympiacos 1-4 Maccabi Tel Aviv Sturm Graz 0-3 Lille Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 PAOK Maccabi Haifa 3-4 Fiorentina Servette 0-0 Viktoria Plzen Union Saint-Gilloise 0-3 Fenerbahce Impressive result of the night was surely Fenerbahce. Got the early goal and as USG pushed to get an equaliser, they countered and have pretty much sealed the tie. Dangerous side in this competition as they have a very experienced side. Lots of ex-Premier League players with the likes of Soyuncu, Fred, Cengiz Under, Tadic, Batshuayi and Dzeko. Lille were also very impressive. Could have won by more as well and they have some very talented attackers. Maccabi Tel Aviv pulled off a shock win in Greece. Led by Robbie Keane, they were 2 up in 10 minutes as Olympiacos' frailties in defence showed up again in Europe. Molde got a late, late winner to beat Club Brugge, but the Belgians will be confident of turning it around next week. Fiorentina won a shoot-out in Hungary against Haifa. A late deflected shot by Barak found its way in and they will be there or thereabouts come the end of this competition. Zagreb looked good against PAOK while Servette and Plzen played out a low-key draw.

McGinn had some small pain in the last training session and was left out because of that.

McGinn, Diaby and Zaniolo are all 1 yellow card away from suspension. Rensch, Hato and Brobbey for Ajax are also 1 yellow card away from missing the second leg. Albanian ref tonight. He did the Molde-Legia game from the last round but this is definitely the biggest game he will have done.

No Bergwijn or Berghuis available for Ajax today from the press conference. Sutalo is suspended but is injured anyway, so they are likely to start the 11 from the weekend. Van de Boomen may come into the side but Mannsverk did well beside Henderson and would be unlucky to be left out. ..........................Ramaj........................... Gooijer...Rensch...Kaplan...Hato...Sosa Hlynsson.Mannsverk.Henderson.Taylor ........................Brobbey......................... Their coach van't Schip reverted to a back 5 against AZ last week which obviously goes against the ideals of Ajax's famous 4-3-3, as a way to try and just get results which didn't work on that occasion. What was surprising is that he used the same system at home on Sunday, but their performance and result was much improved. They have moved away from wingers in this side at the moment and so expect Taylor and Hlynsson to closely support Brobbey with the width coming from the full-backs in Sosa and Gooijer. The middle of the field is going to be pretty congested. They have a very decent keeper in Ramaj who is in great form. Very young back-line which has been very fragile this season. Turkish youngster Kaplan started for the first time on Sunday and did well but may be someone that Villa can target. Hato will turn 18 tomorrow and will be their next big sale. Midfield is young and has had ups and downs, Henderson has clearly been signed to bring in leadership and experience. Brobbey is the star man up front. Only 5ft 11', but he can lead the line on his own and will be a big challenge for our defenders. At the moment they are playing a bit like Man United. Confidence is a little low, which is why they have been playing a bit more reactively but with a huge crowd behind them, if they get going, they will start to play and that's what we have to stop.

Hamstring issue is what he has. Probably best to have him on the bench and rest him for Ajax if possible.

Luton are very open to through balls with no protection in midfield. Lokonga is massive for them. Went off injured at half-time at Anfield, and they just weren't the same after. With no Nakamba either, they don't have a defensive midfielder in the team.

Can be hard to predict as 6 subs can now be made with extra-time added so it's more likely that players on the bench would take one, so if the likes of Bailey/Alex Moreno/Tielemans, start they are all very unlikely to play 120 minutes.

Wes Edens is a co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks with Jimmy Haslam who owns Columbus Crew (and the Cleveland Browns who have previous links with us with Randy Lerner), so I imagine that's how this friendly got arranged. Makes you wonder whether V Sports will do a potential partnership with Columbus Crew after the failure of the Las Vegas Villans project.

First Leg in Amsterdam confirmed for 5:45pm on Thursday, March 7. Second Leg is at Villa Park at 8pm Thursday, March 14.

Haven't won any of their last 3 league games and also were beaten by an amateur side in the Dutch Cup.

Ok, 4th in the Premier League, can beat any side anywhere on their day. In Emery, they have a super coach who is experienced in winning European trophies and always has his teams play a structured and controlled style. Injuries have affected their form lately and they haven't quite reached the levels as they they did earlier in the season. May be distracted by chasing a Champions League spot in the Premier League.

3rd season in a row that Feyenoord have been knocked out by Roma. They really must hate them at this stage.

Huge surprise with Frankfurt going out tonight. Probably were the second favourites for the competition after ourselves but they just never got going tonight. Frankfurt were 2 up after just 10 minutes in the opening leg and somehow lost their way. Betis as well gone. They haven't been playing well for some time, so a surprise on paper but not in reality. Bodo/Glimt were unlucky to lose as well as they totally dominated the second leg on their artificial surface. Coincidentally 7 out of the 8 ties were won by the Europa League dropping down to the Conference League. And then there was 16. Seeded: Aston Villa Club Brugge Fenerbahce Fiorentina Lille Maccabi Tel Aviv PAOK Viktoria Plzen Unseeded: Ajax - Highly inconsistent season as has been well publicised. As always, they have a very young side and have tended this season to get involved in basketball type games. Dinamo Zagreb - Only 3rd in the Croatian League at the moment of which they always dominate. Hadn't played particularly well in Europe either this season up until the tie with Betis. Maccabi Haifa - Joint Top of the Israeli League. Pretty average side. Molde - Interrupted their winter break to beat Legia and they don't start their own League until April. Finished 5th last year in Norway. Play some nice football, but overall an average side. Olympiacos - 4th in a tight title race in Greece. On their 3rd coach as is the Forest owner Marinakis' style. Appointed Mendilibar just a couple of weeks ago who led Sevilla to the Europa League last season. Have a huge squad of some really random players. Inconsistent side in Europe but always a very difficult away tie. Two very close games with West Ham this season, where both sides shared wins. Servette - 2nd in the Swiss League. Another average enough side. Sturm Graz - 2nd in the Austrian League, just 2 points behind Salzburg. Had only won 1 game in Europe out of 8 games before beating Slovan. Another middling side. Union St Gilloise - 8pts clear in the Belgian League. Super pressing side and they have also beaten Liverpool this season. May be distracted by trying to win a first league title in 90 years. Very dangerous side as they showed against Frankfurt.

We haven't drawn Tel Aviv or Haifa by the way. The draw is on Friday. So far, Tel-Aviv have played their home group games in Serbia, while Haifa played the first leg against Gent last week in Hungary. It would be an absolute travesty if Villa drew one of those sides and had to play the home leg behind closed doors at Villa Park for security reasons if that came to be.

There was one game in the Conference League this evening with Maccabi Haifa knocking out Gent, 2-1 on aggregate. Interestingly, Gent were at home and due to police advice played behind closed doors due to the risk of protestors/drones etc. Haifa along with Maccabi Tel-Aviv (managed by Robbie Keane) are the 2 remaining Israel sides in the competition and if Villa draw either of them, it may cause big issues. Also I noticed something today in that yellow cards are only wiped once the quarter-finals are completed, so any players from the group stage until then will face a suspension if they get 3 yellow cards accumulated. From the group stage, various players have 1 yellow card, but McGinn, Diaby and Zaniolo all picked up 2 yellow cards which would leave them close to a suspension. Just something to keep an eye on when European action returns.

Stats according to the BBC Page: Fouls: Brentford 1-12 Liverpool Yellow Cards: Brentford 1-0 Liverpool Just like City, Liverpool have perfected the foul.

Full times in the late kick-offs: Servette 0-0 Ludogorets Real Betis 0-1 Dinamo Zagreb Ajax 2-2 Bodo/Glimt Maccabi Haifa 1-0 Gent Surprise result with Dinamo Zagreb going to Seville and winning. Betis though tend to have these type of results in Europe as they often have lots of possession without a cutting edge. They could still easily turn it around in Zagreb however as they do have the players. Ajax managed to level the tie against Bodo/Glimt with two late goals. Bodo/Glimt for so long had been comfortable but even despite those last few minutes, they will be confident of winning at home.

Fulll-times in the early kick-offs: Sturm Graz 4-1 Slovan Bratislava Union St Gilloise 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt Molde 3-2 Legia Warsaw Olympiacos 1-0 Ferencvaros A triple sub at half-time for Legia spurred them on to a comeback as Molde got deeper and deeper and now Legia are possibly favourites to come through. Saint-Gilloise improved after the break and got a deserved equaliser. A late red card halted that however and in the end Frankfurt will be happy enough with the result. Strum Graz are pretty much through and Olympiacos picked up a narrow win against Ferencvaros with it still all to be played for next week.

Just to confirm, we will face one of the winners of these 8 ties. Half-times in the early kick-offs: Sturm Graz 2-1 Slovan Bratislava Union St Gilloise 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt Molde 3-0 Legia Warsaw Olympiacos 0-0 Ferencvaros Legia are getting absolutely walloped by Molde and they have been unable to deal with their counter attack. Some poor keeping by Tobiaz hasn't helped. Frankfurt have looked impressive in Belgium. St Gilloise lead the Belgian League by 8pts but Frankfurt have been on top throughout and only for a silly backpass, they would have been more comfortable.

Fixtures today: Molde vs Legia - 17:45 Olympiacos vs Ferencvaros - 17:45 Sturm Graz vs Slovan Bratislava - 17:45 Union St-Gilloise vs Eintracht Frankfurt - 17:45 Ajax vs Bodo Glimt - 20:00 Maccabi Haifa vs Gent - 20:00 Real Betis vs Dinamo Zagreb - 20:00 Servette vs Ludogorets - 20:00 I see that TNT are running their goals show tonight that they normally for the Champions League group stage which will combine the Europa League ties as well.

Great to see him back around the boys again and he has been presumably given the all clear to begin getting the boots back on and train again. Such a tough injury to come back from as much mentally as physically as the isolation away from the team group can't have been easy, especially since he is the captain.

Ernest Muci who scored 3 goals against us this season for Legia in both ties home and away has joined Besiktas for €10 million. Looked a very decent player against us.

Sin bin only works when the clock stops which is how it works for rugby. This won't work in football as once a player gets a blue card, another player will just fake an injury and get treatment while the time ticks on.

Aston Villa have released their squad for the rest of the Conference League. Rules are that you could register up to 3 new players for the next stage. Villa have added the new signings in Gauci and Rogers and removed Traore and Dendoncker. Iroegbunam has been selected ahead of Chambers who has been omitted. No places also for Kaine Kesler-Hayden or Omari Kellyman. Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez, Joe Gauci, Robin Olsen, Filip Marschall (B), James Wright (B) Defenders: Matty Cash, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Pau Torres, Alex Moreno, Clement Lenglet, Ben Chrisene (B), Sil Swinkels (B), Jayden Barber (B), Josh Feeney (B), Aaron O’Reilly (B), Frankie Ealing (B), Finley Munroe (B) Midfielders: Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey, Tim Iroegbunam, Boubacar Kamara, Edward Rowe (B), Taylor-Jay Hart (B), Ajani Burchall (B), Tommi O’Reilly (B), Travis Patterson (B), Kyrie Pierre (B), Kadan Young (B) Forwards: Ollie Watkins, Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo, Jhon Duran, Morgan Rogers, Leon Bailey The competition returns next week with the two legs on February 15th and February 22nd. Villa enter at the Last 16 stage. The draw for that is set for Friday February 23rd at 12:00pm with the first leg to be played on March 7th and the second leg the following week.