Preview: Aston Villa vs Fenerbahce - prediction, team news, lineups

Villa Park will host an intriguing Champions League fixture on Wednesday evening, as Aston Villa welcome Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

Unai Emery's side opened their 2026-27 league stage campaign with a 3-2 win over Club Brugge, while Fenerbahce started with a 1-1 draw against Roma.

Match preview

Villa will enter Wednesday's European match off the back of a 2-2 draw with Brentford - a result that left Emery's team in 15th spot in the Premier League table on five points.

It has not been quite the start to the season that Villa expected, but they did manage to beat Club Brugge 3-2 in their Champions League league stage opener, and the English club will now be aiming to move onto six points in the section with a win on Wednesday.

Emery's side will play six more matches before the end of the month, including a home Champions League game against Viking and a trip to Manchester City in the Premier League.

Villa are actually unbeaten in their last 13 home European matches, winning the last 10, while they have enjoyed their meetings with Fenerbahce throughout history.

The pair have locked horns three times, with Villa winning all three of those games, including a 1-0 success when the two teams last locked horns in the league stage of the 2025-26 Europa League.

Fenerbahce, as mentioned, opened their 2026-27 Champions League league stage campaign with a 1-1 draw against Roma, so it was a solid start for the Turkish outfit.

Ismail Kartal's side will enter this match off the back of a 3-0 victory over Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig, with the result leaving them fourth in the table on 13 points.

Fenerbahce are the leading goalscorers in Turkey's top flight this season with 19, and they certainly have the firepower to make this a tricky match for the hosts on Wednesday night.

The Istanbul outfit are actually without a win in their last eight Champions League matches, suffering five defeats in the process, while they have been losing at half time in eight of their last 10 matches in the Champions League, which is another statistic that will hand Villa confidence.

Fenerbahce's best-ever run in the Champions League came in 2007-08, when they reached the quarter-finals of the tournament before losing to Chelsea.

Aston Villa Champions League form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Fenerbahce Champions League form:

Fenerbahce form (all competitions):

Team News

Villa will be without the services of Amadou Onana (knee), Ian Maatsen (ankle), Modou Cisse (groin), Leon Goretzka (knee) and Brian Madjo (ankle) for the European contest.

Meanwhile, George Hemmings (knee) and Matteo Ruggeri (thigh) need to be assessed; should the latter be ruled out of the fixture, then Aaron Wan-Bissaka could start at left-back.

There are unlikely to be any surprises in the Villa side on Wednesday, with Nicolas Jackson set to lead the line, while John McGinn is again expected to feature in a wide area.

As for Fenerbahce, Jayden Oosterwolde (Achilles) and Mert Muldur (knee) are out, but the Turkish side are otherwise in strong shape for the European fixture.

Matteo Guendouzi has been cleared to feature, having initially been suspended, and he is expected to operate in central midfield alongside N'Golo Kante.

Vedat Muriqi and Mason Greenwood have both been in strong goalscoring form this season, netting 13 times between them, and the pair are set to feature in the final third of the field.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Suzuki; Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Wan-Bissaka; Kamara, Gomes; McGinn, Buendia, Manzambi; Jackson

Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:

Ederson; Semedo, Skriniar, Ake, Brown; Kante, Guendouzi, Elmaz; Greenwood, Muriqi, Akturkoglu

We say: Aston Villa 2-2 Fenerbahce

This is a really tough match to call; Villa have home advantage, but Fenerbahce have a lot of quality throughout their side, and we are expecting the Turkish outfit to be good enough for a point.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.