Aston Villa visit Basel tonight. Get all the team news here…
Aston Villa will look to continue their incredible form when they go to Basel tonight.
Unai Emery’s men have won their last seven games in all competitions and Saturday’s 2-1 defeat of Arsenal – courtesy of Emi Buendia’s dramatic, injury-time goal – means they are now considered as genuine Premier League title contenders.
They are also sitting pretty in the Europa League table having won four of their five European games.
Defending Swiss champions Basel are seven points behind leaders Thun in the Super League, losing five games already after suffering defeat only nine times in the entirety of the top flight last season.
Only two of those losses have come at home, and they have not been beaten at St. Jakob Park in the Europa League.
Basel occupy the final playoff round qualification spot as it stands, and a win would greatly increase their hopes of going through to the next stage.
BASEL TEAM NEWS
Basel: Hitz, Metinho, Tsunemoto, Otele, Shaqiri, Traore, Bacanin, Leroy, Daniliuc, Schmid, Adjetey
ASTON VILLA TEAM NEWS
Villa remain without Tyrone Mings (thigh) and Ross Barkley (knee).
Aston Villa: Bizot, Cash, Konsa, Lindelof, Digne, Guessand, Buendia, Sancho, Malen
How to watch Basel v Aston Villa: TV channel, online live streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 20:00 GMT (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). Live TV coverage in the UK is on TNT Sports 1 and the Discovery Plus app.
TNT Sports costs £29.99 a month through Discovery+, which includes Eurosport and entertainment and is available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.
Basel v Villa stats
- The only previous meetings between these sides came in the Intertoto Cup final in August 2001, with a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Switzerland followed by a 4-1 victory for Villa in England
- Basel have lost three of their last eight matches at home against English teams (W4 D1)
- They have won their previous two home matches in this season’s league phase
- The Swiss Super League team are unbeaten in their last 10 home fixtures in the Europa League proper (W8 D2), having won each of the most recent seven
- Villa have lost one of their six matches against Swiss opposition (W4 D1)
- The Villans have won the last three of those matches, including a 2-1 home victory against Young Boys on Matchday 5 this season
- Unai Emery’s squad have won eight of their last 10 European matches (L2)
- Their last seven matches in all competitions have ended victoriously
