Aston Villa host Olympiacos at Villa Park in the first leg of their semi-final in 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Villa and Olympiacos scraped past Lille and Fenerbahce on penalties respectively to win their Quarter-Final ties, which in-turn set up a huge semi-final clash.
Team News
Emiliano Martinez is ruled out for Aston Villa after he suffered a thigh injury in the first half of their eventual 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League.
Youri Tielemans (groin) is also sidelined for this match alongside; Nicolo Zaniolo (muscle), Alex Moreno (calf), Jacob Ramsey (toe), Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara (both knee) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL).
Olympiacos will be without Andreas Ndoj and Georgios Masouras through suspension.
Nelson Abbey, Gelson Martins and Ruben Vezo are ineligible for the squad.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Olympiacos at Villa Park on Thursday 2 May at 8pm BST, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Aston Villa’s first competitive meeting against Olympiacos in all UEFA competitions.
- Olympiacos are playing Villa at Villa Park for the very first time in all competitions.
- This is Villa’s first match against Greek opposition in all UEFA competitions.
- Ollie Watkins has scored in each of his last three home appearances for Villa in this competition.
- Three of Olympiacos’s seven away goals in this competition were scored by Ayoub El Kaabi.
Prediction
After blowing a two-goal lead against Chelsea in their eventual draw with a tame second half, Villa need to just reset and play like they did in the clinical first half but this time across the whole match, whilst cutting out their defensive sloppiness in that solid but annoying high press.
Olympiacos though won’t be easy opposition given their strong form and attacking quality with El Kaabi, Georgios Fortounis and Daniel Podence looking a menace for Villa’s defence to handle, so I do expect the Greek side to cause some issues if can press Villa hard.
Villa though should have enough quality to at least seize the first leg initiative at home but this won’t be an easy game by any mile.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Olympiacos
Result: Aston Villa 2-4 Olympiacos