Ipswich Town return to Portman Road for the first time in a month to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League. Alex Jones takes a closer look at the Villans...
From Championship to Champions League
Aston Villa’s relegation from the Premier League in 2016 had been a long time coming. Although they spent three seasons in the second tier, it was what the club needed – a factory reset.
Steve Bruce tried to take them back up to the Premier League but failed. Dean Smith took charge in October 2018 and guided them back to the top flight via the play-offs.
Survival was never going to be the only goal, although they scraped a 17th-place finish in 2019/20. Smith was sacked and Steven Gerrard replaced him, but the Liverpool legend failed to get them ticking. He, in turn, was eventually replaced by Unai Emery, who has got the Villans challenging right at the top end of the table.
His first season in charge saw them finish seventh, qualifying for last season’s Europa Conference League. They were the favourites to win it, but ultimately fell short to eventual champions Olympiacos in the semi-finals.
A few weeks after that shock defeat in Piraeus, they secured a top-four finish and a place in the Champions League for the first time since 1982/83.
The season so far
For all the talk of needing to strengthen ahead of their Champions League return, Aston Villa ended up selling quite a few players over the summer.
Douglas Luiz moved to Juventus for £42.35m while Moussa Diaby made a £50.5m switch to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad. Tim Iroegbunam and Omari Kellyman joined Everton and Chelsea respectively, the former costing £9m and the latter ending up at £19m, while Cameron Archer was bought back from Sheffield United and sold to Southampton for £15m.
As for incomings, Everton’s Amadou Onana was the real standout, moving to Villa Park for £50m. He was joined by Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen, who signed for £37.5m, and Ross Barkley, who cost just £5m to sign from Luton Town. Of course, the Villans also pipped Ipswich to the signing of Hull City’s Jaden Philogene, bringing him in for £13m.
On the pitch, things started well. They were comfortably the better side in their 2-1 win at West Ham on the opening day but were beaten 2-0 at home by Arsenal the following weekend. They bounced back the following Saturday, winning 2-1 away at Leicester City.
It was a real shock to see them 2-0 down at home to Everton inside 30 minutes after the international break, but they came back to win that match 3-2. They then made their bow in the Champions League with an impressive 3-0 win at Swiss side Young Boys before coming from behind yet again to beat Wolves 3-1 on home soil.
Unlike Ipswich, they played in midweek, knocking Wycombe Wanderers out of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening.
The super sub
Jhon Duran had a pretty busy summer where he was linked with a number of clubs, including West Ham. Villa fans were disappointed by his attitude, particularly in an Instagram live video where he did the ‘irons’ sign. Julen Lopetegui’s side launched numerous bids to bring him to East London, but a move never materialised.
Minutes were always going to be hard to come by ahead of Ollie Watkins, but he came off the bench at the London Stadium to score the winning goal at West Ham on the opening day. Two weeks later, he did the exact same away at Leicester.
It wasn’t a fluke. Returning from international duty with Colombia, he was named on the bench once again as Aston Villa hosted Everton. He was introduced with the scores level at 2-2, but after just seven minutes on the pitch, he smashed a stunning strike into the net from distance to win the match. There’s a good chance that it’ll end up as the goal of the season.
Was he done there? Absolutely not. Following on from yet another cameo against Young Boys where he had a goal ruled out by VAR, he came off the bench at home to Wolves with a close-range finish in stoppage time to seal the points, taking his total for the season to four goals.
Unsurprisingly, his goals per 90 figure of 2.75 is the best in the league, ahead of in-form superstar Erling Haaland. He’ll be knocking on the door to start at Portman Road, but if he doesn’t, he’ll be a huge threat off the bench.
One eye ahead?
Every successful team focuses on one game at a time. Emery, a shrewd tactician, will be no different, but it might be a little harder this weekend.
A trip to Suffolk will be exciting for them. Quite a lot of their squad have never played at Portman Road and the atmosphere will undoubtedly be electric, but the Villans might have an eye on what’s to come.
Three days after their game at Ipswich, Aston Villa will host a Champions League game for the first time in more than 40 years. The visitors will be none other than Bavarian giants Bayern Munich, six-time winners of the competition.
Vincent Kompany’s side sit top of the Bundesliga, a league they’ve won 33 times in their history, with four wins from four. They’ve been on fire recently, scoring 20 goals in their last three games while conceding just three. That includes a stunning 9-2 win against Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener, a result that sees them top the table with a huge goal difference.
Knowing that the likes of Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich will soon be coming to Villa Park, Emery might have to warn his players of complacency. Liverpool are the only side to beat Ipswich on their own patch in the last 12 months, and Kieran McKenna will be hoping to keep it that way.
Team news
Aston Villa are dealing with a couple of long-term injury issues. Boubacar Kamara (knee) hasn’t played since February while ex-Town defender Tyrone Mings (ACL) has been ruled out for more than a year. Both players will be hoping to return soon, but this game will come far too early.
The same can be said for John McGinn (hamstring), who picked up a knock against Wolves last weekend. He’s expected to miss the next few weeks, which could allow someone like Leon Bailey or Emi Buendia to come in. Matty Cash may (hamstring) join him on the sidelines after coming off injured against Arsenal last month. He hasn’t played since.
Lucas Digne was subbed off with an unspecified injury issue at the interval against Wolves while Diego Carlos, who was named on the bench for Villa's Carabao Cup win at Wycombe in midweek, was withdrawn late on after picking up a knock. Maatsen would seem the best replacement for the former, while 20-year-old Lamare Bogarde may come in for the latter.
Philogene, who’s had limited minutes since returning to Villa Park, may also be left out after missing the win against Wolves with a knock. It remains to be seen if any other big names are rested lineup ahead of the Bayern Munich game.
Possible XI: Martinez; Konsa, Bogarde, Torres, Maatsen; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins
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