Unai Emery names a much-changed Aston Villa XI for Thursday’s Europa Conference League tie with Legia Warsaw.
Unai Emery names a much-changed Aston Villa XI for Thursday’s Europa Conference League tie with Legia Warsaw.
Victory by a two-goal margin will guarantee Villa top spot in Group E, but Emery has opted to rotate his team ahead of a busy domestic schedule.
Most notably, Ollie Watkins misses out entirely, Emery selecting Jhon Duran in his place down the middle of the attack.
There is also a rare start for backup goalkeeper Robin Olsen, first-choice Emiliano Martinez only being named among the replacements.
In total, five alterations have been made to the Villa side that started the win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Alex Moreno also coming in for his first start of the season.
Clement Lenglet and Youri Tielemans are the other players to earn a recall, with Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne all dropping out.
Jacob Ramsey, who made his return after a two-month layoff on Sunday, is kept in reserve and may be handed minutes in the second half.
Aston Villa: Olsen; Cash, Konsa, Lenglet, Moreno; McGinn, Kamara, Luiz, Tielemans; Diaby; Duran
Subs: Martinez, Marschall, Diego Carlos, Digne, Torres, Chambers, Zaniolo, Bailey, Dendoncker, J.Ramsey
Legia Warsaw: Tobiasz; Kapuadi, Pankov, Wszolek, Gil Dias, Muci, Elitim, Josue, Gual, Jedrzejczyk, Slisz
Subs: Hladun, Burch, Ribeiro, Pekhart, Augustyinak, Kramer, Celhaka, Kun, Rosolek, Kapustka, Rejczyk, Strzalek
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