Legia Warsaw meet Aston Villa at Stadion Wojska Polskiego in their opening Group E clash in 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Victory could see Legia Warsaw or Aston Villa go top of Group E if can better Zrinjski Mostar’s result against AZ Akmaar elsewhere.
Team News
Blaz Kramer could return for Legia Warsaw after recovering from a thigh injury.
Rafal Augustyniak (thigh) is a doubt but Bartosz Kapustka (knee) and Ramil Mustafaev (cruciate ligament) are both ruled out.
Aston Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 3-1 Premier League win over Crystal Palace.
Jacob Ramsey (foot) is unlikely to feature as he nears a first-team return but could face a late fitness test.
Diego Carlos (hamstring), Tyrone Mings (knee), Tim Iroegbunam (unspecified), Bertrand Traore (unspecified) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Legia Warsaw host Aston Villa at Stadion Wojska Polskiego at 6:45pm CEST (5:45pm UK Time) on Thursday 21 September, live on TNT Sport 2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Legia Warsaw’s first-ever meeting against Aston Villa in all UEFA competitions.
- Aston Villa are playing away against Legia Warsaw at Stadion Wojska Polskiego for the very first time.
- Villa are the fourth different English opposition that Legia Warsaw have faced in all UEFA competitions.
- Two of Legia’s five goals at home in Qualifying were scored by Tomas Pekhart.
- Leon Bailey scored in each of Villa’s wins over Hibernian in their Qualifying Play-Off.
Prediction
Despite all of the electric atmopshere surrounding their home matches, Legia Warsaw’s performances haven hardly been fortress like in Qualifying with no clean sheets despite all of their attacking quality so they will need to tighten up if they want to get out of this group.
Aston Villa meanwhile left it late to beat Palace despite their dominance because they just couldn’t break down the Eagles’ organised defence, although Warsaw’s back line should be much easier if they turn up and play with the same intensity and patience.
Legia though possess the more recent European experience but if Villa play like they’ve done in recent weeks and score first, I can see just one result coming.
Prediction: Legia Warsaw 1-3 Aston Villa
Result: Legia Warsaw 3-2 Aston Villa
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