Preview: Aston Villa vs Red Bull Salzburg - prediction, team news, lineups

After securing Europa League last-16 qualification last week, Aston Villa conclude their League Phase campaign against playoff hopefuls Red Bulls Salzburg at Villa Park on Thursday night.

While Unai Emery’s men sit second in the 36-team standings and are guaranteed a top-eight finish, Thomas Letsch’s side are down in 28th place but could still sneak into the top 24.

Match preview

Aston Villa remain in the mix to win the Premier League title this season after they secured an impressive 2-0 victory away against Newcastle United on Sunday to move to within four points of leaders Arsenal, who suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Manchester United.

Unai Emery’s side also claimed a important win just three days earlier in the Spaniard’s 100th Europa League match as a manager, with Villa beating Fenerbahce 1-0 in Turkey to ensure that they qualify directly for the last 16 with a game to spare.

Villa currently sit level on points with Lyon at the summit of the 36-team table having won six of their seven League Phase fixtures (against Fenerbahce, Basel, Young Boys, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Feyenoord and Bologna), with their only defeat suffered away against Go Ahead Eagles on matchday three.

The Birmingham-based outfit will be confident of further success against Salzburg, after winning 19 of their last 22 home games in all competitions (D1 L2) and will target a seventh successive European victory at Villa Park on Thursday. However, they did lose 1-0 in their most recent Premier League home match against Everton on January 18.

Villa have never faced Salzburg before and have only encountered Austrian opposition four times in their history, all of which came in Europa League qualifying against Rapid Vienna, winning just one of those ties in 2009 (D1 L2).

After being knocked out in the League Phase/group stage of the Champions League in each of the previous three years, Red Bull Salzburg are in danger of another early elimination in the Europa League this term, though they boosted their knockout round hopes with a 3-1 home win over Basel last week.

Salzburg’s only other victory in this season’s League Phase was a 2-0 home win over Go Ahead Eagles - who, as mentioned previously, beat Aston Villa - while Thomas Letsch’s men have also lost five Europa League games against Porto, Lyon, Ferencvaros, Bologna and Freiburg.

The 17-time Austrian champions currently sit two points behind Celtic, who occupy the 24th and final playoff position, and they need to claim maximum points against Aston Villa, as well as hope that other results go their way, if they are to secure knockout football. Anything less will see them eliminated.

Salzburg sit top of the Austrian Bundesliga table just beyond the halfway stage, but they have not played a league fixture since December 14 due to a winter break. Their next competitive domestic fixture is a Austrian Cup quarter-final clash with Wolfsberger on Sunday, three days after their crucial Europa League battle with Aston Villa.

Die Roten Bullen head into Thursday’s contest having never won any of their previous eight European encounters with English opposition (D2 L6). Those two draws came against Blackburn Rovers (2-2) in the first leg of a UEFA Cup first round tie in 2006-07, and Chelsea (1-1) in the 2022-23 Champions League group stage.

Aston Villa Europa League form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Red Bull Salzburg Europa League form:

Red Bull Salzburg form (all competitions):

Team News

Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans suffered an ankle injury against Newcastle last weekend and is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn remain out with knee injuries, while Ross Barkley will have a knee problem of his own assessed ahead of kickoff.

Emery is expected to rotate his side in multiple positions now that Villa have already qualified for the last 16. Goalkeeper Marco Bizot may be given the nod at the expense of Emiliano Martinez, while Andres Garcia, Victor Lindelof, Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne could all line up in the back four.

Lamare Bogarde is expected to replace Tielemans and could link up with Amadou Onana and/or 18-year-old George Hemmings in centre-midfield, while Evann Guessand could be supported in attack by Jadon Sancho, who scored in the win over Fenerbahce, and Leon Bailey.

As for Red Bull Salzburg, they are still having to cope without midfielder Takumu Kawamura and centre-back John Mellber as they continue to recover from long-term knee injuries.

Teenager winger Kerim Alajbegovic scored twice in Salzburg’s win over Basel and will likely retain his starting spot in the front three with Edmund Baidoo and Petar Ratkov, who has netted a team-high 12 goals in all competitions this season.

Former Brentford midfielder Mads Bidstrup is set to begin in the middle of the pitch alongside Sota Kitano and Soumaila Diabate, while 19-year-old pair Joane Gadou and Jannik Schuster could continue at centre-back.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Bizot; Garcia, Lindelof, Mings, Digne; Bogarde, Onana, Hemmings; Sancho, Guessand, Bailey

Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:

Schlager; Trummer, Gadou, Schuster, Kratzig; Kitano, Diabate, Bidstrup; Baidoo, Ratkov, Alajbegovic

We say: Aston Villa 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg

Salzburg must try and take the game to Aston Villa in this must-win match for Letsch’s side, who will hope to take advantage of the hosts potentially naming a weakened starting lineup.

However, Emery’s men will want to end their League Phase campaign on a positive note in front of their own fans, and even if a few star names are rested, they should still have enough quality in their side to claim maximum points on Thursday.

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