Villa are fourth in Premier League and unbeaten in six in all competitions
– Olympiakos have scored in seven successive matches
– Recommended bet: Aston Villa to win and both teams to score
Aston Villa’s enjoyable ride to the Europa Conference League semi-finals sees them entertain Greek outfit Olympiakos on Thursday night.
Unai Emery’s side were minutes from being knocked out in the previous round at Lille but eventually won on penalties.
They must do without suspended goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez — the hero in France in the last round — for this semi-final first leg but they should still be good enough to eke out a lead to take with them to Greece next week.
Team news
Martinez is the big miss for Villa as he serves a supension so Robin Olsen will start in goal for the hosts.
Emery has plenty of other injury issues to deal with as Boubacar Kamara, Emiliano Buendia, Tyrone Mings, Nicolo Zaniolo, Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno have all been ruled out, while Youri Tielemans is a big doubt for the first leg.
As for Olympiacos, Andreas Ndoj and Georgios Masouras are both suspended but Panagiotis Retsos is available again after serving his recent ban.
Ruben Vezo, Gelson Martins and Nelson Abbey were not named in the Greek outfit’s Conference League squad.
The stats
Villa have had a perfect home campaign in this competition, beating Hibs in the qualifying round, then Zrinjski, AZ, Legia Warsaw in the group and Ajax and Lille in the knockout rounds.
Olympiakos have got to this stage when entering the competition after finishing third in their Europa League group.
They then saw off Ferencvaros in the play-off knockout round before beating Maccabi Tel Aviv and, most recently, Fenerbahce on penalties.
Olympiakos boss Jose Luis Mendilibar won the Europa League last season while in charge of Emery’s former club Sevilla.
Prediction
Villa have impressively navigated this competition to the latter stages while also maintaining a genuine top-four bid in the Premier League under the astute guidance of Emery.
The Spanish coach is an expert manager in Europe — having won the Europa League four times with previous clubs, Villarreal and Sevilla.
He will not want to miss out on the chance of a fifth continental crown, albeit in the third-rung competition.
Villa have been consistent at home in the Conference League throughout, winning all six of their Villa Park ties.
Olympiakos look to be similar calibre opposition to teams Villa have already put asunder in this competition so Emery’s men will not have too many fears on Thursday.
However, they well concede again, like they have done in three of their last four victories, on their way to earning a first-leg advantage.