Aston Villa looked sluggish as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there looked to be some tired legs in the Villa ranks at The Amex following Thursday night’s surprise 4-2 defeat at home to Olympiacos.
That game was the first leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final and Villa must now dust themselves off ready for the second leg in Greece on Thursday night.
Whilst it will undoubtedly be difficult to overcome a two goal deficit away from home, Villa boss Unai Emery will know his side are more than capable given the talent in their squad.
The Spanish manager should also take confidence from how his side have performed this season, with one particular statistic showing why reaching a first European final in 42 years is far from impossible.
Aston Villa are capable of winning by two or more v Olympiacos
In order to take the tie to extra-time, Villa know they will have to win by two goals.
To avoid an additional 30 minutes, they will have to find a way to beat Olympiacos by three goals or more on the night.
The Greek side were much better than Villa in the first leg, with striker Ayoub El Kaabi’s hat-trick meaning he outshone man of the moment Ollie Watkins.
However, they have vulnerabilities and Villa exposed these as they came from two goals down to level the scores at 2-2.
Unfortunately, not long after Moussa Diaby’s equaliser, Douglas Luiz – who had an awful night – gave away a penalty which halted Emery’s side’s momentum.
If levelling the tie from two goals down is not enough to give The Villans confidence, then the fact that they have won a remarkable 17 games this season by two or more goals in all competitions certainly should.
Villa must tighten up defensively to beat Olympiacos
Given they scored four goals in the away leg, it will be very difficult to stop Olympiacos from netting at their own ground.
Villa must strike the right balance between attacking to make up the two goal deficit but not leaving themselves too exposed at the back as Olympiacos do have the quality to exploit this.
Emery has a big call to make over who starts in the backline.
Ezri Konsa had a torrid time at right-back against Brighton on Sunday, being tormented by Simon Adingra before eventually giving away a late penalty.
Diego Carlos also did not cover himself in glory against The Seagulls, but Pau Torres was one of Villa’s better performers on a poor day collectively.
Matty Cash could well return at right-back, allowing Konsa and Torres to play as the central defensive duo, with Lucas Digne continuing at left-back.
Whoever is selected in the back four will have a busy night trying to keep El Kaabi and co. at bay.
The post The one impressive Aston Villa stat that'll give Emery huge confidence ahead of Olympiacos second leg appeared first on Aston Villa News.