Aston Villa: Unai Emery selection dilemma emerges at Villa Park ahead of ‘amazing’ Ajax clash
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is facing a selection conundrum for the Villans’ “amazing” Europa Conference League showdown with Ajax, according to Alan Hutton.
Emery’s side make the trip to Amsterdam on Thursday (7 March) for the first leg of their Conference League round of 16-tie with the Eredivisie giants as they look to build upon their recent excellent form in the Premier League.
During the group stages of the competition, Villa used their European fixtures as an opportunity to rest and rotate their side, with the likes of Clement Lenglet and Youri Tielemans playing regularly while being rooted to the bench in the Premier League.
While Hutton believes Villa are more than capable of beating Ajax on Thursday, he admits that it will be hard for Emery to pick a starting XI and expects the Spaniard to name his strongest possible side.
“I don’t think Villa will fear anybody,” Hutton told Villa News.
“The way that they’ve been playing this season, they have the right to feel that way. Ajax have had a really poor start to their league campaign and they obviously picked up recently but I think it will be an amazing test.
“I’ve played in that stadium, the atmosphere is outstanding so for all that, I think it’s excellent for Villa. You think of the supporters, they’ve had a lot of difficult times over the last 10 years so to be where they are at this moment in time they’ll be happy with the draw.
“It could have been easier, let’s not kid ourselves on, but I still think they’ll feel that they can match anyone.
“It will be interesting to see what he does with the team because if you look over the group stages he made a lot of changes and gave people minutes who weren’t playing as much in the Premier League.
“I think come the Ajax game we’ll have to wait and see how he approaches it. I think he’ll go stronger, I think he’ll know now that there’s an opportunity for a trophy there.”
Who will Unai Emery start for Aston Villa against Ajax?
Ajax haven’t had the best of seasons as Hutton suggested, but they are still a powerhouse of Dutch and European football. Villa will have to be at their best to claim all three points, but they have already shown they can beat the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal.
Emery’s selection conundrum may be slightly eased by the vast amount of injury woes in his squad, with the likes of Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and potentially Jacob Ramsey all rooted to the treatment table.
Hopefully, Villa will still be able to enjoy the incredible occasion in the Johna Cruyff Arena and give the away supporters something to sing about in Amsterdam.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery is already expected to have made a decision on Nicolo Zaniolo’s long-term future at Villa Park
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